The travel bug might just bite you back this year as a relatively new phenomenon threatens holiday plans: overtourism. It’s becoming hard to ignore, as more than 1.5 billion people globally are expected to travel abroad this summer. According to satellite data collected by French company Murmuration, 80 per cent of those holidaymakers will be visiting only 10 per cent of the world’s tourist destinations. That’s a lot of crowds in only a few places.
Locals in some tourist destinations are now so fed up that they’re fighting back. Barcelona is a global holiday favourite and sees more than 27 million visitors annually, which is wild when you consider the permanent population of the city is only 1.62 million. Residents of one Barcelona suburb hit headlines recently by taking matters into their own hands: they’ve had their local bus route taken off Apple and Google maps. La Salut is home to Park Güell, the city’s second most popular attraction after the Sagrada Familia. Now, tourists won’t be able to find the bus route in the hopes of freeing up access for elderly locals who rely on it for transport.
