More than half of holidaymakers would change their travel plans if aware of overtourism in a popular destination at peak times, according to research for Travel Weekly’s latest Insight Report.
Exclusive consumer research in January found 55% of those planning an overseas holiday this year agreed they would change their plans if their intended destination was “experiencing overtourism”.
Two out of three holidaymakers (62%) and almost three out of four adults with children (72%) agreed they would change their plans “if aware there had been protests against too many visitors to a destination”.
More: Access the full Travel Weekly’s Insight Report 2025
Experiencing anti-tourism made me wonder how my clients would react
There were protests against overtourism in a number of destinations last year, most notably in Spain and some of the Spanish islands.
The significant proportion of prospective holidaymakers saying they would switch plans if aware of protests came despite under half the respondents (46%) having heard of ‘overtourism’ in advance of the survey and only 40% being aware of protests.
Younger adults were less likely to have heard of either overtourism or the protests. Just one in three 16-34-year-olds (32%) had heard the term overtourism compared with half (53%) of those aged 45-54 and two thirds (64%) of those aged 55-plus.
And just 24% of those aged 16-44 had heard about protests compared with 48% of 45-54-year-olds and 62% of those aged 55 and over.
The research by Service Science and Kantar was conducted on January 3-6 among 1,281 UK adults.
Service Science associate director Tom Costley noted the “mixed responses to awareness of overtourism” but said: “There was clear support for choosing an alternative destination if travellers became aware of overtourism or local protests in a destination.”
Separate research by pollster YouGov in August last year found half those polled in Spain (54%), France (50%), the UK (48%) and Germany (49%) would support taxes on tourists to reduce overtourism, and more than half would support limits on tourist numbers – 50% in the UK, 60% in Spain, and 62% in France and Germany.