Surging travel in Europe spikes concerns over tourism’s drawbacks

Surging travel in Europe spikes concerns over tourism’s drawbacks
Protestors march against the Formula 1 Barcelona Fan Festival in downtown Barcelona, Spain. (AP)
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Updated 22 June 2025
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Surging travel in Europe spikes concerns over tourism’s drawbacks

Surging travel in Europe spikes concerns over tourism’s drawbacks
  • Despite popular backlash against the crowds, some tourism officials believe they can be managed with the right infrastructure in place

MADRID: Suitcases rattle against cobblestones. Selfie-snappers jostle for the same shot. Ice cream shops are everywhere. Europe has been called the world’s museum, but its record numbers of visitors have also made it ground zero for concerns about overtourism.
Last year, 747 million international travelers visited the continent, far outnumbering any other region in the world, according to the UN’s World Tourism Barometer. Southern and Western Europe welcomed more than 70 percent of them.
As the growing tide of travelers strains housing, water and the most Instagrammable hotspots in the region, protests and measures to lessen the effects of overtourism have proliferated.
Here’s a look at the issue in some of Europe’s most visited destinations.
What’s causing overtourism
Among factors driving the record numbers are cheap flights, social media, the ease of travel planning using artificial intelligence and what UN tourism officials call a strong economic outlook for many rich countries that send tourists despite some geopolitical and economic tensions.
Citizens of countries like the US, Japan, China and the UK generate the most international trips, especially to popular destinations, such as Barcelona in Spain and Venice in Italy. They swarm these places seasonally, creating uneven demand for housing and resources such as water.
Despite popular backlash against the crowds, some tourism officials believe they can be managed with the right infrastructure in place.
Italy’s Tourism Minister Daniela Santanchè said she thinks tourism flows at crowded sites such Florence’s Uffizi Galleries that house some of the world’s most famous artworks could be better managed with AI, with tourists able to buy their tickets when they book their travel, even months in advance, to prevent surges.
She pushed back against the idea that Italy — which like all of its Southern European neighbors, welcomed more international visitors in 2024 than its entire population — has a problem with too many tourists, adding that most visits are within just 4 percent of the country’s territory.
“It’s a phenomenon that can absolutely be managed,” Santanchè told The Associated Press in an interview in her office on Friday. “Tourism must be an opportunity, not a threat — even for local communities. That’s why we are focusing on organizing flows.”
Where overtourism is most intense

Countries on the Mediterranean are at the forefront. Olympics-host France, the biggest international destination, last year received 100 million international visitors, while second-place Spain received almost 94 million — nearly double its own population.
Protests have erupted across Spain over the past two years. In Barcelona, the water gun has become a symbol of the city’s anti-tourism movement after marching protests have spritzed unsuspecting tourists while carrying signs saying: “One more tourist, one less resident!”
The pressure on infrastructure has been particularly acute on Spain’s Canary and Balearic Islands, which have a combined population of less than 5 million people. Each archipelago saw upwards of 15 million visitors last year.
Elsewhere in Europe, tourism overcrowding has vexed Italy’s most popular sites including Venice, Rome, Capri and Verona, where Shakespeare’s “Romeo and Juliet” was set. On the popular Amalfi Coast, ride-hailing app Uber offers private helicopter and boat rides in the summer to beat the crowds.
Greece, which saw nearly four times as many tourists as its own population last year, has struggled with the strain on water, housing and energy in the summer months, especially on popular islands such as Santorini, Mykonos and others.
The impact of overtourism
In Spain, anti-tourism activists, academics, and the government say that overtourism is driving up housing costs in city centers and other popular locations due to the proliferation of short-term rentals that cater to visitors.
Others bemoan changes to the very character of city neighborhoods that drew tourists in the first place.
In Barcelona and elsewhere, activists and academics have said that neighborhoods popular with tourists have seen local shops replaced with souvenir vendors, international chains and trendy eateries.
On some of Greece’s most-visited islands, tourism has overlapped with water scarcity as drought grips the Mediterranean country of 10.4 million.
In France, the Louvre, the world’s most-visited museum, shut down this week when its staff went on strike warning that the facility was crumbling beneath the weight of overtourism, stranding thousands of ticketed visitors lined up under the baking sun.
Angelos Varvarousis, a Barcelona- and Athens-based academic and urban planner who studies the industry, said overtourism risks imposing a “monoculture” on many of Europe’s hotspots.
“It is combined with the gradual loss and displacement of other social and economic activities,” Varvarousis said.
What authorities are doing to cope
Spain’s government wants to tackle what officials call the country’s biggest governance challenge: its housing crunch.
Last month, Spain’s government ordered Airbnb to take down almost 66,000 properties it said had violated local rules — while Barcelona announced a plan last year to phase out all of the 10,000 apartments licensed in the city as short-term rentals by 2028. Officials said the measure was to safeguard the housing supply for full-time residents.
Elsewhere, authorities have tried to regulate tourist flows by cracking down on overnight stays or imposing fees for those visiting via cruises.
In Greece, starting July 1, a cruise tax will be levied on island visitors at 20 euros ($23) for popular destinations like Mykonos and 5 euros ($5.70) for less-visited islands like Samos.
The government has also encouraged visitors to seek quieter locations.
To alleviate water problems, water tankers from mainland Greece have helped parched islands, and the islands have also used desalination technology, which separates salts from ocean water to make it drinkable, to boost their drinking water.
Other measures have included staggered visiting hours at the Acropolis.
Meanwhile, Venice brought back an entry fee this year that was piloted last year on day-trippers who will have to pay between 5 and 10 euros (roughly $6 to $12) to enter the city during the peak season.


Ukraine hits Russian city deep behind front line, leaves three dead

Updated 9 sec ago
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Ukraine hits Russian city deep behind front line, leaves three dead

Ukraine hits Russian city deep behind front line, leaves three dead
MOSCOW: Ukrainian drones attacked the Russian city of Izhevsk on Tuesday, killing three people and wounding dozens in one of the deepest strikes inside Russia of the three-year conflict, authorities said.
Izhevsk, more than 1,000 kilometers (620 miles) from the front line, has arms production facilities including factories that make attack drones and the world-famous Kalashnikov rifle.
A Ukraine security services source said Kyiv had targeted an Izhevsk-based drone manufacturer and that the attack had disrupted Moscow’s “offensive potential.”
Unverified videos posted on social media showed at least one drone buzzing over the city, while another showed a ball of flames erupt from the roof of a building.
The region’s head said the drones hit an industrial “enterprise,” without giving detail.
“Unfortunately, we have three fatalities. We extend our deepest condolences to their families,” Alexander Brechalov, head of the Udmurt Republic, where Izhevsk is located, wrote on Telegram.
“I visited the victims in the hospital. At the moment, 35 people have been hospitalized, 10 of whom are in serious condition.”
Russian forces in turn struck the town of Guliaipole in Ukraine’s central Dnipropetrovsk region, causing “casualties and fatalities,” Ukraine’s southern defense forces said, without specifying numbers.
Diplomatic efforts to end the conflict have stalled in recent weeks.
The two sides held direct talks almost a month ago but Moscow has since stepped up deadly strikes on Ukraine.
Kyiv’s military chief vowed in June to increase the “scale and depth” of strikes on Russia, warning Ukraine would not sit back while Moscow prolonged its offensive.
Moscow’s army has ravaged parts of east and south Ukraine while seizing large swathes of territory.
An AFP analysis published Tuesday found that Russia dramatically ramped up aerial attacks in June, firing thousands of drones to pressure the war-torn country’s stretched air defense systems and exhausted civilian population.
Moreover, in June, Moscow made its biggest territorial gain since November while accelerating advances for a third consecutive month, according to another AFP analysis based on data from US-based Institute for the Study of War (ISW).
In another sign of an intensifying offensive, a top Kremlin-installed official claimed on Monday that Russia was now in full control of Ukraine’s eastern Lugansk region.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky has repeatedly accused Russia of dragging out the peace process — something that Moscow denies.
“We are certainly grateful for the efforts being made by Washington and members of Trump’s administration to facilitate negotiations on the Ukrainian settlement,” Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov told reporters including AFP on Tuesday.
US President Donald Trump has pressed both sides to reach a ceasefire but has failed to extract major concessions from the Kremlin.

Poland to start controls on borders with Germany, Lithuania over migration

Poland to start controls on borders with Germany, Lithuania over migration
Updated 25 min 33 sec ago
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Poland to start controls on borders with Germany, Lithuania over migration

Poland to start controls on borders with Germany, Lithuania over migration
  • “We consider the temporary reintroduction of controls necessary to reduce the uncontrolled flows of migrants across the Polish-German border to a minimum,” Tusk said
  • Debate over migration in Poland has turned increasingly heated in recent weeks

WARSAW: Poland will introduce temporary controls along borders with Germany and Lithuania on July 7, Prime Minister Donald Tusk said on Tuesday, echoing several other European Union countries in reimposing frontier checks to stem illegal migration.

Belgium, the Netherlands and Germany itself have also brought back border controls, underlining a public backlash against undocumented migration that has strained the EU’s Schengen passport-free travel zone.

“We consider the temporary reintroduction of controls necessary to reduce the uncontrolled flows of migrants across the Polish-German border to a minimum,” Tusk told a meeting of his cabinet.

Tusk’s liberal government has been accused by nationalist and far-right opposition parties of accepting numerous illegal migrants being sent back from Germany. The government had argued that the numbers were limited.

Debate over migration in Poland has turned increasingly heated in recent weeks, with far-right activists starting to organize patrols along the border with Germany.

Germany said in February that it was extending its own temporary border controls for six months.

Tusk, who has previously called on Berlin to do more to help its neighbors protect the EU’s external border, criticized Germany’s approach to migrants at its own frontier, saying it placed excessive pressure on Poland.

“Poland’s patient position after Germany formally introduced unilateral border controls is wearing out,” Tusk said.

He added that it had become difficult to determine whether migrants being sent from Germany to Poland should really be returned there under EU rules stating that migrants should apply for asylum in the first member state they enter.

Chancellor Friedrich Merz said on Tuesday Germany wants to preserve the Schengen system, which allows passport-free movement, but this could only work if it was not abused by criminals who smuggle migrants.

“We know that the Polish government also wants to impose border controls with Lithuania in order to limit illegal border crossings from Lithuania to Poland,” Merz told a news conference. “So, we have a common problem here that we want to solve together.”

Knut Abraham, the German government’s commissioner for Poland, was critical of the tilt toward border restrictions.

“The solution cannot lie in pushing migrants back and forth between Poland and Germany or in cementing border controls on both sides,” he was quoted by Die Welt newspaper as saying.

Lithuanian Foreign Minister Kestutis Budrys told a news conference that the Polish government had informed him about its decision, BNS news agency reported.

“(We need to see) what measures should be most effective, while maintaining the expectation that they will not violate our common interest in having free movement of persons, and will also contribute to our goal of firmly and solidly protecting the external border of the EU and NATO,” BNS quoted him as saying.

Poland has been facing what it says is a migrant crisis orchestrated by Belarus and Russia on its eastern border since 2021. Both countries deny encouraging migrants to cross.


Indonesian president makes first visit to Saudi Arabia since taking office

Indonesian president makes first visit to Saudi Arabia since taking office
Updated 27 min 5 sec ago
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Indonesian president makes first visit to Saudi Arabia since taking office

Indonesian president makes first visit to Saudi Arabia since taking office
  • First meeting of Indonesia-Saudi Supreme Coordination Council scheduled for Wednesday
  • President Prabowo Subianto is accompanied by Religious Affairs Minister Nasaruddin Umar

JAKARTA: Indonesian President Prabowo Subianto will attend the inaugural session of the Indonesia-Saudi Supreme Coordination Council this week, his first official trip to Saudi Arabia since taking office, Indonesia’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs said on Tuesday.

The leader of Southeast Asia’s biggest economy, who became president last October, left Jakarta on Tuesday afternoon for a three-day trip to the Kingdom. He is accompanied by Religious Affairs Minister Nasaruddin Umar. 

Prabowo is scheduled to meet Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman in Jeddah on Wednesday, the Indonesian foreign ministry said in a statement.

“This state visit is aimed at strengthening bilateral relations between Indonesia and Saudi Arabia, particularly in strategic sectors, such as cooperation in economy and investment, energy security, and cooperation to serve Indonesia’s Hajj and Umrah pilgrims. The meeting will also be used as an avenue to discuss current regional and global issues, especially developments in the Middle East.” 

The coordination council was established in October 2023 by the crown prince and former Indonesian President Joko Widodo to align the strategic priorities of the two countries. 

From its first meeting, Indonesia is expecting “a number of deliverables in the form of MoU (memorandum of understanding), including between governments and businesses,” the foreign affairs ministry said. 

Jakarta has in recent years sought to enhance trade ties with Riyadh and gain a greater presence in the Middle East. 

Bilateral ties have traditionally focused on Hajj and Umrah as Indonesia, the world’s biggest Muslim-majority nation, sends the largest Hajj contingent of pilgrims every year. 

Indonesian and Saudi officials have been in talks to explore untapped potential in commerce, as trade and investment ties have been on the rise. Non-oil trade was worth about $3.3 billion in 2024, showing a 14.5 percent increase compared to 2020.

As part of the Industry and Mineral Resources Minister Bandar Al-Khorayef’s visit to Jakarta in April, the Saudi Export-Import Bank and its Indonesian counterpart signed an agreement aimed at strengthening economic and trade relations between the two countries. 

Al-Khorayef also signed a memorandum of understanding with Energy and Mineral Resources Minister Bahlil Lahadalia to boost cooperation in the mining and minerals sector. 

Indonesia holds the world’s largest nickel reserves and has rich deposits of other minerals, including copper and bauxite. In 2023, its mining sector accounted for about 11.9 percent of the country’s gross domestic product.


Man, 92, jailed in UK for 1967 murder and rape

Man, 92, jailed in UK for 1967 murder and rape
Updated 42 min 41 sec ago
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Man, 92, jailed in UK for 1967 murder and rape

Man, 92, jailed in UK for 1967 murder and rape
  • Headley was sentenced to life with a minimum term of 20 years
  • After passing sentence at Bristol Crown Court in southwest England, judge Derek Sweeting told Headley: “You will never be released, you will die in prison”

LONDON: A 92-year-old man was on Tuesday told he would die in prison after he was jailed for a 1967 rape and murder, in what is thought to be the UK’s oldest solved cold case.

Ryland Headley, who was convicted of raping and killing 75-year-old Louisa Dunne after breaking into her house nearly 60 years ago, was sentenced to life with a minimum term of 20 years.

After passing sentence at Bristol Crown Court in southwest England, judge Derek Sweeting told Headley: “You will never be released, you will die in prison.”

He said that Headley, who was 34 at the time of the crime, had “violated the sanctity and safety of Mrs.Dunne’s home where she had every right to feel secure.

“She must have experienced considerable pain and fear before her death.”

The judge mentioned Headley’s previous convictions for breaking into the homes of two elderly widows in 1977 and raping them.

He was initially sentenced to life in jail for those convictions, which was later reduced to seven years on appeal.

They showed “chilling pattern of behavior,” the judge added.

Police reopened Dunne’s case in 2023 and matched DNA from the victim’s skirt and other items from the original probe to Headley.

Doughty Street Chambers, the legal team representing Headley, said it was Britain’s oldest cold case murder — an unsolved case for which new information emerges.

During the initial investigation, police had found a left-hand palm print from Dunne’s home, where she was found dead from strangulation.

The palm print was compared to 19,000 men to no avail at the time.

At the time, Headley was a railway worker who lived just outside the area in which men and boys were asked to give prints.

Reaching a dead-end, police sealed away forensic evidence for half a century. Both DNA testing and later Headley’s palm print resulted in matches.

When Headley was arrested at his home last November, he told detectives: “I don’t know what you are talking about. Very strange, very strange.”

“For 58 years, this appalling crime went unsolved and Ryland Headley, the man we now know is responsible, avoided justice,” said Charlotte Ream of the Crown Prosecution Service.

Dunne’s granddaughter Mary Dainton told the court the murder had a “far-reaching effect” on her family.

“I feel it falls to me to speak for the people who are no longer here,” she said.

Earlier, Dainton said: “I was just 20-years-old when my grandmother died and I’m now almost the same age as she was when she was killed.”

Police said they were looking into other possible cold cases Headley could be linked to.

“Ryland Headley has now been convicted of three rapes of elderly women within their own addresses, and in the case of Louisa Dunne, her murder as well,” said Dave Marchant, of Avon and Somerset Police, on Monday.

“I think there’s every possibility that there are other offenses out there — over the 60s, 70s, however long a time period — which Mr.Headley could be culpable for.”


Barcelona records the hottest June ever as a heat wave grips Europe

Barcelona records the hottest June ever as a heat wave grips Europe
Updated 55 min 47 sec ago
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Barcelona records the hottest June ever as a heat wave grips Europe

Barcelona records the hottest June ever as a heat wave grips Europe
  • The previous hottest average for June was 25.6 C in 2003
  • Barcelona is usually spared the worst heat in Spain

PARIS: Barcelona recorded its hottest month of June since records started over a century ago, Spain’s national weather service said on Tuesday as Europe remained in the grip of the first major heat wave this summer.

The Fabra Observatory reported an average temperature of 26 degrees Celsius (78 degrees Fahrenheit), breaking records since 1914. The previous hottest average for June was 25.6 C in 2003. The same weather station said that a single-day high of 37.9 C (100 F) for June was recorded Monday.

Barcelona is usually spared the worst heat in Spain, thanks to its location between hills and the Mediterranean in Spain’s northeastern corner. But most of the country has been gripped by the extreme heat.

Health warnings remained in effect Tuesday in several European countries. Punishing temperatures were forecast to reach 40 C (104 F) in Paris and to stay unusually high in Belgium and the Netherlands.

Spain’s national average for June of 23.6 C (74 F) was 0.8 C hotter than the previous hottest June in 2017. It was also that first time that June was hotter than the average temperatures for both July and August.

Spain saw a new high mark for June established on Saturday when 46 C (114F) was recorded in the southern province of Huelva since national records were started in 1950.

“We are seeing these temperatures because we are experiencing a very intense heat wave that has come early in the summer and that is clearly linked to global warming,” Ramón Pascual, the regional delegate for Spain’s weather service in Barcelona, told The Associated Press on Tuesday.

France suffocates
In France, the national weather agency Météo-France placed several departments under the highest red alert, with the Paris region particularly hard hit. More than 1,300 schools were partially or fully closed in the country.

Visitors to the Eiffel Tower without tickets were told to postpone their visits as the summit of the city’s landmark was closed until Thursday.

Climate experts warn that future summers are likely to be hotter than any recorded to date. By 2100, France could be up to 4 C (39 F) warmer, with temperatures exceeding 40 C expected every year and extreme heat spikes potentially reaching 50 C (122 F).

Man dies in Italy
Farther south, 17 of Italy’s 27 major cities were experiencing a heat wave, according to the health ministry.

There were torrential rains in Italy’s north on Monday and parts of Bardonecchia near Turin were covered in sludge after the Frejus river burst its banks. Near Bologna, one of the cities under a heat alert Tuesday, the 46-year-old owner of a construction company collapsed and died while repaving a school parking lot, state-run RAI reported.

An autopsy was being conducted to determine the cause, but heat was suspected. The CGIL labor union said the death of the man, whom it identified as Ait El Hajjam Brahim, owner of Veneto Pavimenti SAS, showed the need for improved measures to protect construction workers from heat exposure.

The Netherlands sweating
An annual event in Amsterdam to commemorate the end of slavery in former Dutch colonies was moved forward to avoid the hottest part of the day. People attending the event, including the city’s mayor, sat under white parasols and tried to keep cool with paper fans.

In the central town of Soest, first responders said they were bringing a firehose to an early evening water gun fight.

“Bring your water pistol and swimming clothes with you, because you’re guaranteed to get soaked!” the firefighters said in an Instagram post.

In the northern city of Groningen, organizers of an outdoor concert featuring veteran rocker Neil Young also took measures, including adding extra drinking water taps and providing free sunblock.

Portugal record
The Portuguese weather service issued a statement Monday night confirming the highest single temperature ever recorded in mainland Portugal for the month of June at 46.6 C (115 F) on June 29 in the town of Mora, west of Lisbon. The prior record was 44.9 C (112 F) in 2017.

Wildfires in Turkiye
Firefighters across Turkiye combated wildfires for a third consecutive day on Tuesday. The fires have damaged dozens of homes and forced the evacuation of some 50,000 residents.

The crews were nearing containment of two major fires in the Aegean province of İzmir and another in neighboring Manisa, Forestry Minister İbrahim Yumaklı said. They were however, struggling with a large, wind-driven fire still sweeping through the southern province of Hatay.

Relieving animals in Prague
Temperatures were expected to reach 37 C (98.6 F) by Wednesday in large parts of the Czech Republic, including the capital.

The Prague zoo took extraordinary measures to provide some relief to their animals as zookeepers started to distribute up to 10 metric tons of ice daily across the park.

The polar bears native to the Arctic are a major concern for the zoo, director Miroslav Bobek said.

Twin brothers Aleut and Gregor looked pleased when they found parts of their open-air enclosure covered with a thick layer of ice on Tuesday morning. They used the familiar substance to lie on it and roll on their backs. As a bonus, they discovered frozen pieces of squid among the pieces of ice.