How the travel industry is working to rebalance tourism as protests spread

Throngs of vacationers descending on the world’s most popular destinations have strained infrastructure, tested local patience and reshaped the traveler experience—and the trend shows no signs of slowing. The UN World Tourism Organization forecasts a further 3–5% increase in international tourist arrivals this year, on top of the 1.4 billion recorded in 2024.

Residents in some of these destinations are becoming more vocal about their opposition to tourists, with protests earlier this week in Barcelona, Lisbon, Venice and other European cities.

Just days before these protesters squirted water guns at vacationers in Barcelona, travel industry leaders gathered in that city at Phocuswright Europe to candidly discuss overcrowding and the role travel sellers can play in addressing the problem.

“We're not going to solve any problems here this morning, but we’re going to have a really interesting discussion,” said Rod Cuthbert, founder and former CEO and chairman of Viator. Cuthbert, who led the panel, was setting the tone for the conversation about what he acknowledged is a “difficult topic,” pointing out that the session was less crowded than others at the event given what he identified as a lack of desire to dive deep on the subject.

Overtourism is tricky to address but many stakeholders are making an effort to move the needle. Governments have implemented tourist fees, experts have emphasized the need for traveler education and some cities have taken further action such as Barcelona, which is taking steps to eliminate short-term rentals by November 2028. 

“The rapid growth of tourism over the last few years has produced imbalances, and this has happened, and they have to be corrected,” said Miguel Sanz Castedo, director general of Turespaña, the national tourism agency of Spain. “And I think that governments all over Europe and the world are taking steps to rebalance the situation.”

Participants had varying takes on how best to make headway.

Sanz Castedo said that governing bodies on the local, regional and national levels are taking steps to allow visitor numbers to grow while balancing that with strategies for social and environmental sustainability. The desire is a better model for tourism.

And Ewout Versloot, strategist for The Netherlands Board of Tourism & Conventions, said when people talk about tourism density, they immediately think of numbers—but he believes it’s just as much about traveler behavior as it is about volume.

“I truly believe that it's very important as a destination to make a very conscious decision about the type of visitors that match your needs as a destination,” Versloot said.

“Just saying we want more tourism doesn't help anyone. You have to be very selective in which type of visitors and which behavior. Where do you want them to spend their money? What impact should they have socially and environmentally?”

And marketing can make a difference, too. Sanz Castedo is leaning into that as Turespaña launches its newest campaign focused on dispersing visitors to less popular destinations within Spain’s borders.

Spain has 17 regions, but he said just six have accounted for 92% of its 94 million visitors. So, for the first time, the new campaign will not feature any of the country's islands or beaches on the Mediterranean.

“Out of the 60 places we have shared through campaigns, I know half of them," he said. "I didn't know about the other 30, and they are amazing places, but we want to tell the world."

Esther Villena, global head of social sustainability for Amadeus, added that data can be really helpful as destinations and brands navigate the issue.

She said data can be a game changer, because it can help a destination to better understand the flow of travelers and their behavior, both important factors as Versloot referenced earlier in the conversation. Data can be used to determine and understand hot spots and pressure points.

"It can help destinations design smarter strategies in order to flatten the seasonality gaps and to help manage visitor flows during peak season," she said. "It's a matter of getting the right balance. It's about getting the right number of people to the right places at the right time.”

Villena also identified low season as a missed opportunity for destinations, when infrastructures are underused. Data can help destinations with identifying and navigating that period, bringing a better picture of market dynamics that can help organizations decide how best to work with partners to attract tourists in non-peak times.

Shannon Guihan, chief sustainability officer at The Travel Corporation and head of its non-profit foundation, TreadRight, agreed seasonality sways consumer decision-making. She said traveler education is part of the solution, too.

The Travel Corporation has been working with destinations that want to disperse their visitors by promoting lesser-known areas, but she said it requires communication and collaboration.

“It's difficult, because ... tourism doesn't always have a seat at the tables that it needs to be at from a planning perspective,” she said. “This is where we need to start moving. What does a destination desire? How can we help operationalize that? Because we have different skill sets and different spaces in the travel trade distribution network, and that's really important.”

As Cuthbert said, the group did not come to a solution, but they did advance the conversation. Watch the full discussion below.