The countries with the most visitors, the problem of mass tourism and the strategies that are put into play

Following the pandemic, which hit the travel industry hard, tourism registered a recovery that moved in leaps and bounds. According to statistics from the latest World Tourism Barometer, published by UN Tourism, in 2023 international traveler arrivals reached 89% of 2019 levels. And in the first quarter of 2024 it already reached 97%.

That’s why, For this year, the international organization’s forecasts are more than encouraging., and they point to a total recovery of international tourism. They estimate that international arrivals will grow by 2% above 2019 levels.

Among the reasons given, they emphasize strong demand, improved air connectivity and the continued recovery of China and other large Asian markets that travel.

With the Olympic Games having just begun and putting destiny at the center of the scene, France was the most visited country in the world in 2023with almost 100 million international tourist arrivals (there were 98 million and this year it is expected to exceed 100).

Second place went to Spain, which achieved 85 million international visitors, followed by the United States in third place, with 66 million.

Fourth place went to Italy (57 million), while fifth went to Türkiye (Turkey), which closed the top five with 55 million international tourists.

If we wanted to complete the list of the 10 most visited countries throughout last year, we should also mention Mexico, the United Kingdom, Germany, Greece and Austria.

It is enough to compare with the figures and lists prior to the pandemic to see important improvements in the positions of many of these destinations: Italy, Türkiye, Mexico, Germany and Austria rose one position in the ranking, while the United Kingdom moved from position 10 to 7, and Greece noticeably improved its position, going from 13 to 9.

In the economic area, the United States obtained the highest income from international tourism, with 176,000 million dollars in 2023, followed by Spain (US$ 92,000), the United Kingdom (US$ 74,000 million), France (US$ 69,000 million) and Italy (US$56 billion).

Another interesting fact that emerges from the Barometer is which country spends the most on international tourism. Last year, the first place went to travelers from China: they are the ones who spent the most money on their trips to other countries.

While reports and statistics celebrate the recovery of tourism and the increase in traveler movement around the world, many of the countries that appear in the ranking have destinations in which the mass of visitors has already become a problemand in recent months protests by residents have spread asking for measures to stop the “harmful subjugation” that the activity produces when it gets out of control.

An emblematic case is Venice, in northern Italy, which has been trying measures for some time. This year implemented the charging an “entry” or entry fee to those who come to the city only for the day and on certain dates considered to be the busiest. The program has just ended and for next year they are analyzing increasing that amount – it would go from 5 to 10 euros – and extending the days on which the charge is applied.

In a city that some days reaches peaks of up to 100,000 visitorsthis measure has been highly criticized by the Venetians themselves… who, moreover, are less and less in their own city: they consider that the entry fee is exclusively revenue-raising and does not solve the “invasion” of people and the rising cost of living in the area.

In some destinations in Spain, protests by residents are repeated. With slogans such as “Mallorca is not for sale”, “SOS residents: Stop tourism” or “Digital nomads go home”, thousands of people took to the streets of Palma de Mallorca – part of the Balearic Islands – a week ago to demand changes. in the tourism model. “It’s not tourismphobia, it’s figures: 1,232,014 inhabitants; 18 million tourists”, one could read.

Another destination where protests have been seen is Barcelonawhere the City Council had to come out to ask for respect from visitors when images of protesters rebuking and wetting with them went viral. water guns to several tourists.

In an interview with the EFE agency, the president of Barcelona Tourism, Jordi Clos, pointed out that the activity in the Catalan city has already hit its ceiling and that in this new stage of promotion they would seek to attract “quality tourists.”

“We have fulfilled our mission, which was to be present in the world, to be in the top ten of the European cities with the most tourism,” explained Clos, while pointing out that after having reached the “limit” of touriststhe typology of the visitor had to be changed for a more sustainable and cultural tourist.

Also these days, the director general of UNESCO, Audrey Azoulay, pointed out mass tourism as one of the great threats facing the protection of world heritage and called for the implementation of sustainable practices to mitigate it.

“Mass tourism that affects local populationshit by housing shortages, low wages and environmental risks, must be the object of our attention,” he said.

Meanwhile, some eyes are on the initiative that Copenhagen, the capital of Denmark, has just launched. It is not in the top ten of the most visited countries, but it is the third most sustainable destination in the world among large cities, according to the 2023 Global Destination Sustainability Index.

With the expectation of that being a sustainable tourist is not just a nice phrase and becomes something concretethe municipality decided to launch CopenPay: it rewards actions such as using bicycles and public transportation, participating in cleaning work or volunteering on urban farms with the possibility of obtaining free tickets to museums, coffees or lunches and surfing lessons.

The objective is “bridge the gap between intention and action“, they said from the local tourism body.