Zante, Mallorca and Paris are among the European holiday destinations most hit by overtourism, new research from Which? has found.
Issues with tourists are now so prevalent that some countries and cities are bringing in measures to limit visitors, including tourist taxes or limiting the number of holiday lets available. The Balearic government is looking at ways to limit the number of tourists and introduced a tourist tax more than eight years ago.
The European Commission defines overtourism in three ways: the number of visitors compared to residents, the most overnight stays overall and the most overnight stays per square kilometre.
Zante, which does not have the most visitors in absolute terms, is the capital of overtourism when considering how many residents call the island home.
Only around 40,000 people live there, but it had a staggering six million stays in 2023, equivalent to approximately 150 overnight stays for every person who lives there.
When looking at the most number of overnight stays overall, Mallorca is top of the list, with 51 million in 2023, compared to an island population of just under one million.