European holiday destinations urged to 'set tourist limits'

European mass market destinations should set tourist limits to prevent the costly and detrimental impact of over-tourism, according to Sunvil chairman Noel Josephides.

Josephides, former chairman of Abta and Aito, told the Spain Talks 2025 conference over-tourism problems had been exacerbated by the liberalisation of European air space and growth of unregulated accommodation providers such as Airbnb in recent years.

He urged destinations to copy cities such as Barcelona, which is imposing a ban on holiday apartments by 2029, and said other measures such as tourist taxes and extending the peak season could also mitigate the issue.

In a fireside chat with Travel Weekly executive editor Ian Taylor, Josephides said: “I think destinations can manage their own destiny.

“If you listen to Barcelona, and what they have done, it’s what other destinations should be doing because ultimately the onus is on the destination to look after itself. It’s their destination, it’s their responsibility to look after it.”

More: Leading Spanish destinations confirm intentions to cap visitor numbers

He warned destinations not to leave it too late, pointing to problems Spain experienced in the mid-1980s and 1990s during the “Crisis at the Costas” when operators switched to alternative destinations such as Turkey, and highlighted current saturated hotspots such as Santorini.

“Spain had a serious problem in the mid 80s,” recalled Josephides, describing the overly-rapid growth of mass market tourism to the Spanish costas.

“If you [Spain] had been stricter with accommodation and infrastructure, you would not have had the huge expense you have now. If destinations leave it too late you can’t control what is happening and it’s a great shame.”

While Spain had led the way in addressing the problems caused by over-tourism, he said: “It’s extremely important that other destinations look at what is happening. You have to catch this before it gets ‘terminal’.”

He added: “At the moment they [destinations] are basking in the growth. Before you know it, it will be too late. The whole situation for me is very worrying.

“The sheer volume that can be unleashed in a destination is quite frightening. You can have one operator that launches …then suddenly you have six or seven others all chasing existing accommodation.

“Nothing is done in moderation in this industry. You very rarely hear a destination say they will have the same number of tourists next year.”

On the growth of companies like Airbnb, he said: “Around 30% of beds in Greece are on these [accommodation] platforms. And 30% of them are totally illegal.

“This is what destinations are having to cope with. If destinations had listened to what we were telling them, if politicians had listened, I personally don’t think this current problem would be so much out of control.”

Extending the duration of the peak season in resorts could help “to a certain extent” but needed “a lot of investment and infrastructure” while tourist taxes could help moderate tourism flows, although he noted tourism numbers were not currently dropping as holidaymakers were prepared to pay the taxes.