In December 2024 I wrote on these same pages that European tourism, as we knew it, had become unsustainable. He then spoke of a model that squeezed urban space until it was empty of meaning, of cities converted into showcases for visitors instead of homes for their citizens.
Almost a year later, the discussion has ceased to be theoretical. Mass tourism has not only peaked: it is beginning to crumble.
What we see today are not isolated complaints, but concrete political decisions. Cities that were symbols of overflowing tourism such as Venice, Amsterdam, Barcelona and Dubrovnik are setting a new course. Venice already charges admission for single-day visitors, and has limited cruise ships encroaching on its lagoon.
Amsterdam has banned the construction of new hotels and moved cruise terminals out of the city center. Barcelona has gone even further: it will not renew tourist apartment licenses from 2028.
Some regions, such as Tyrol or Scotland, have begun to experiment with dynamic capacity limits: algorithms that adjust promotion and reservations based on the actual load of a territory. In the Mediterranean, several islands are exploring variable tourist rates depending on the season, type of accommodation or environmental footprint. They are not symbolic gestures, but a structural and very reasonable change in the way of understanding the urban economy.
Mass tourism was born with low-cost, grew with globalization and skyrocketed with digital platforms
Mass tourism was born with the low-costgrew with globalization and exploded with digital platforms. For two decades, his logic was always the same: more visitors, more income, more success. But the model, based on practically infinite numbers of visitors, has collided with the physical, environmental and social limits of cities.
Each new record of arrivals meant less housing, less public space, less local life. Today, local governments dare to recognize that tourist saturation is not a symptom of success, but of illness.
Technology, interestingly, can help better manage the phenomenon it helped create. Data analysis systems make it possible to monitor flows in real time, anticipate saturations and redistribute visitors. Cities can use that information not to attract more tourists, but to balance their presence.
What is needed is not to eliminate tourism, but to domesticate it. Turn it into a practice compatible with daily life and the identity of places.
The most interesting thing is that this reaction does not arise from nostalgia, but from innovation. Europe does not deny tourism: it is redesigning it. Instead of measuring success by the number of tourists, start measuring it by the quality of the experience, length of stay or local spending.
A city that expels its neighbors, that turns every home into temporary accommodation and every street into a photo queue, slowly commits suicide
The notion of “permanence tourism” arises, which prioritizes longer stays, closer ties with the environment and less environmental impact. Islands such as Sardinia, Madeira or the Balearic Islands experiment with variable rates depending on the season or the ecological footprint of the visitor. In the Alps, some regions use real-time data to adjust tourism promotion according to the saturation of the territory.
Even large capitals are beginning to imagine different models. Paris is promoting cultural and local tourism, trying to attract fewer but more committed visitors. Lisbon seeks to balance the pressure of cruise ships with the recovery of housing for residents.
And in medium-sized cities, such as Bilbao or Malaga, there is a commitment to more diversified tourism, with a focus on knowledge, gastronomy or cultural industries. Cities in general are increasingly trying to avoid overcrowding that erodes their social fabric, destroys their habitability and reduces their local identity to that of just another theme park, a set for visitors.
Behind all these changes there is a simple idea: tourism cannot be sustained if it destroys what it promises. A city that expels its neighbors, that turns every home into temporary accommodation and every street into a photo queue, slowly commits suicide. The new, and the most hopeful, It’s just that more and more cities seem to have understood it, and are starting to act.
Spain, naturally, is at the center of this debate. We are a global tourism power, and our economic model remains largely dependent on that sector. Tourism represents more than 12% of the GDP and provides work for millions of people, but it also causes growing tensions: unaffordable rents, loss of population in historic centers and conflict between residents and visitors.
We are also one of the countries where tensions are most visible: from impossible access to housing to protests against tourist saturation in Palma, Malaga or the islands.
What was a national pride is beginning to be a social dilemma. The question is not whether tourism should continue to be a source of wealth, but under what conditions it can continue to be so without destroying the urban balance.
The change will not be easy. Restrictive measures are usually unpopular and clash with very powerful interests. But the transformation has already begun, driven by a new social consciousness. Young generations travel differently: they prefer authenticity, sustainability and respect for the environment.
Many no longer seek the pathetic “see everything” or the “collection of memories”, but rather understand what they see. And the cities that know how to offer that will be the ones that prosper in the new cycle.
Perhaps the tourism of the future will not have so much to do with the number of photos that are uploaded, but with the number of conversations that are held. Live a place, not consume it as fast food. Contribute to its economy without altering its essential fabric. That visitors want to return, not because they saw it all, but because they understood it better.
Unlike what I wrote in 2024, this time change is not on the horizon: it has already begun. The airports are still full, but the cities are beginning to be emptied of clichés. Europe is rethinking the way it shows itself to the world.
And if it manages to transform tourism into a more fair, balanced and humane activity, perhaps we will be able to look back in a few years and say, with relief: yes, mass tourism is over. And it was for the better.
***Enrique Dans is Professor of Innovation at IE University.
The post The end of mass tourism appeared first on Veritas News.
