In recent months, mass protests against mass tourism have taken place in Spain. Many locals are outraged by the high cost of housing, environmental pollution, traffic congestion and an excessive increase in visitors. Adding to the problems is the lack of water, as well as the obstructed waste collection.

Interestingly, among the most popular countries, Spain does not have the most tourists per capita. In first place, if we divide the number of visitors by the number of residents to determine the ratio of locals to vacationers, Austria takes the lead with a percentage of 3.4.

Figures from the UN World Tourism Organization UN Tourism show that France was and will remain the most popular destination in 2023 with 100 million “international tourist arrivals”. The large number of holidaymakers is mainly due to Paris, one of the world’s top tourist destinations. Spain (85.2 million), the USA (66.5 million), Italy (57.2 million) and Turkey (55.2 million) follow in the top ten of the Madrid-based United Nations organization.

Greece: Proportion of 3.1 tourists per inhabitant

A little further behind are Germany with 34.8 million and Austria with almost 31 million. However, Austria ranks first worldwide in the ratio of vacationers to residents, if we divide the 30.9 million tourists by its 9.2 million inhabitants.

The percentage is at 3.4 tourists per inhabitant. In Greece the ratio is 3.1 tourists and is similar to that of the United Arab Emirates. In Spain there are 1.8 tourists per inhabitant, in France 1.5, while in Italy the ratio of tourists to inhabitants is essentially 1 to 1. In Germany there is not even half a vacationer per inhabitant: 34.8 million tourists for 83.4 million inhabitants equals 0.4.

High percentages of tourists are also recorded in island countries with a relatively small population, such as Malta and Cyprus, or even in very small countries, such as Monaco, Andorra, San Marino, Liechtenstein and the Vatican. The case of Croatia is noteworthy. The total number of holidaymakers is estimated by the UN tourism organization at 16.9 million for 2023, which corresponds to 4.3 tourists per inhabitant.

In top positions Rhodes, Heraklion, Athens

But which European city gathers the most visitors? German holiday rental booking portal Holidu compared the number of tourist arrivals to the number of residents. The European city “overflowing” with tourists in 2023 was Dubrovnik with 27 tourists per inhabitant. They are followed by the city of Rhodes (26), Venice (21), Heraklion (18) and Florence (14). Reykjavik and Amsterdam received 12 tourists per inhabitant, Lisbon and Porto 11, Athens and Dublin 9, and Paris, Nice and the Belgian Bruges 7.

But if we look at the number of overnight stays instead of the number of vacationers, the ratio of locals to tourists in the South Aegean is the highest in the EU, according to the figures of the German Statistical Office. Two years ago, islands such as Santorini and Mykonos recorded an average of 110 overnight stays per inhabitant. In comparison, the state of Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania, which had the largest concentration of tourists in Germany, the ratio hovered around 18 nights per inhabitant.

Editor: Stefanos Georgakopoulos