site.btaMoney-maker or Scourge? Tourism across the EU Flourishes

This article is based on content provided by agencies participating in the European Newsroom (ENR), including the Bulgarian News Agency.

Tourism is a major economic factor in the EU. Visitor numbers are mostly back to pre-pandemic levels, and earnings from tourism provide a significant chunk of the GDP and pour money into public coffers. But all is not well in Europe’s tourism sector.

Crowded beaches and packed city centres: Another tourist summer season draws to a close across Europe. While the tourism industry is rubbing its hands over ever-increasing visitor numbers and earnings, frustration grows among residents in many visitor hotspots. Understandably – who would like to live among crowds, noise and dirt and at the same time be priced out of their neighbourhoods by holiday rentals? 

The economic footprint of tourism in the EU

According to the World Travel and Tourism Council (WTTC), an industry group, tourism is forecast to contribute nearly 1.9 trillion Euro to the EU’s gross domestic product (GDP) this year. This accounts for about 10.5 percent of the bloc’s economy. The figures for 2024 were 1.8 trillion Euro. And the sector is expected to grow further – to about 2.3 trillion Euro of the EU’s GDP by 2035.

The European Commission says tourism represents 5.1 per cent of the EU’s total gross value added – that is the total value of goods and services produced in an economy, before taxes and subsidies. 

Tourism in Europe had bounced back from the dip caused by the Covid-19 pandemic by 2023. That year EU residents spent 555 billion Euro on tourism trips according to the bloc’s statistical office, Eurostat. Some 65 percent of EU residents travelled for leisure at least once that year. Of them, 43 percent holidayed in their home country, while 57 per cent took a trip abroad. 

Tourism is a major employer – Eurostat data says that in 2022, 2.4 million enterprises in the EU business economy belonged to the tourism industries, employing 12.3 million people. According to other estimates, tourism supports up to 23 million jobs across the bloc. 

Tourism’s economic impact is especially visible in Southern and Mediterranean EU countries, where it can account for up to 18 percent of GDP (Croatia, 2023) and a significant share of employment. 

In Greece, for example, more than 20 percent of the employment in the country’s business economy was in tourism in the last years. 

One year after the Olympic Games, France has now set itself the target of generating 100 billion Euro in tourism revenue from foreign tourists by 2030. To achieve this, the French government plans to roll out a series of measures to boost sports tourism, business tourism and agritourism, as well as simplifying regulations.

Who goes where?

The impact of tourism varies, both in the participation and in earnings: While in the Netherlands or France more than 80 percent of the population participated in tourism in 2023, the figure in Romania was as low as 26.8 percent. 

Spain is Europe’s No. 1 tourist destination, making tourism one of the key pillars of the Spanish economy, accounting for 12.3 percent of the country’s GDP and 11.6 percent  of employment in 2023, according to data from the National Statistics Institute. In 2024, international tourist arrivals rose by over 10 percent, surpassing 98 million visitors, who also spent 16 percent more than the previous year.

Spain outstripped everyone else with 302 million overnight stays overall according to Eurostat’s 2023 data, followed by Italy (234 million), France (138 million), Greece (123 million), and Austria (91 million).

German and French tourists are the biggest spenders when they are on holiday, accounting for nearly half of all EU tourism expenditure, according to Eurostat. Germans like to spend at home and abroad despite the country’s economic slowdown, the country’s statistical office said. When polled, Germany is the most popular holiday destination for Germans. In 2024, Germany recorded a new peak in overnight stays with 496,1 million, with the trend continuing in the first quarter of 2025. 

According to estimates, there are more than 636,000 tourist accommodation establishments in the EU, providing 29.5 million beds. More than a third of said beds are in Italy and France, while more than half of the establishments are in Croatia and Italy. 

For the first quarter of 2025, Eurostat reported 452.4 million overnight stays across the EU in tourist accommodations. While, for example, Latvia and Malta reported an increase in overnight visitors of 18.5 and 17.2 percent respectively, Ireland recorded a drop of 23.1 per cent, solidifying a trend already observed the previous year. 

The country has seen a downward trend in tourism levels since September 2024, according to its Central Statistics Office (CSO). Tourism Ireland commented on the decrease in February saying: “Influencing factors include cost for consumers as well as air access, in an uncertain macroeconomic environment.”

Problems also arise when tourists can’t get to their destination: Slovenia, where tourism currently accounts for 5 percent of GDP, has launched a new investment cycle, also with European funds, but experts believe this is not enough. They particularly miss investments by large international strategic tourism companies. 

The country’s poor international connectivity is a main issue. Following the collapse of the national air carrier Adria Airways in 2019, Ljubljana Airport’s connectivity with the world has shrunk significantly.

Romania is one of the countries not yet on the map of foreign tourists to the extent it would like to be: It ranked second-to-last in terms of overnight stays by foreign tourists in the first quarter of 2025, with a rate of 20.1 percent, ahead only of Poland.

Data from a tour operator specialising in holidays within Romania released in July says that while turnover rose slightly during the summer season the number of tourists declined. This seemingly contradictory trend reflects a transforming market: tourists are becoming more selective, preferring holiday packages focused on comfort, with a variety of amenities, experiences and fully personalised services.

Some countries have not managed yet to close the pandemic gap: In Bulgaria, tourism is expected to grow between 5 and 7 percent in the first half of 2025, Tourism Minister Miroslav Borshosh said, though they remained below pre-pandemic levels. Still, Bulgarian tourism experts expect an uptick after the country joins the Eurozone in 2026. 

EU initiatives and funding for tourism

Brussels supports tourism both with policy plans and a range of targeted funding programs. The EU’s tourism policy is guided by the Transition pathway for tourism report (2022). The report identifies 27 areas of measures for the green and digital transition and for improving the resilience of EU tourism from regulatory barriers to meeting demands for sustainable tourism. 

Germany’s tourism association warned already back in 2023 that for the industry to continue growing it had to become “greener, more digital and more resistant to crises”.

The European Agenda for Tourism 2030, which was adopted in December 2022 and is based on the report, and focuses on sustainability, digitalisation, resilience, and skills.

In June, the European Commission launched a public consultation on its upcoming sustainable tourism strategy. “This means less overcrowding, more eco-friendly options, better digital services, and smoother cross-border trips. It will also support Member States in improving coordination, access to support measures, and strengthening the sector’s resilience in the face of emerging challenges, such as the impacts of climate change, geopolitical tensions,” a statement by the Commission read. 

In a more hands-on way, a range of programmes funds tourism – both directly and indirectly as well as country-specific. Here are some examples: 

• Erasmus +: Projects support education of young people in tourism.
• European Regional Development Fund (ERDF): Funds sustainable tourism infrastructure, especially in less developed regions.
• Cohesion Fund: Indirectly benefits tourism via transport and environmental infrastructure.
• European Social Fund Plus (ESF+): Funds training and upskilling for tourism workers.
• European Agricultural Fund for Rural Development (EAFRD): Supports rural tourism projects.
• Interreg: Funds cross-border and interregional tourism projects.

Getting there (and back again) 

Schengen was one of the biggest game-changers for tourism in the EU: Facilitating travel via the Schengen regulations has made the life of the European tourist much easier and helped to boost tourism in the bloc. The Schengen Area covers 29 countries (25 EU, 4 non-EU), enabling passport-free movement for over 450 million people.

Changes in visa regimes can also bring in the guests: A decision by the Commission from July to introduce new rules for Turkish citizens applying for Schengen visas was loudly welcomed by the tourism industry in Türkiye and neighbouring Bulgaria. Both Bulgarian and Turkish representatives of the tourism sector believe that the old visa rules were an obstacle to increasing tourist flows to Bulgaria. 

The problem of overtourism

Overcrowding in popular destinations such as Barcelona, Venice, Amsterdam, and Dubrovnik leads to congestion, environmental degradation, and social tensions. Impacts include strain on infrastructure, rising living costs, displacement of residents, and damage to heritage sites.

Residents in hotspots report declining quality of life and a desire to reduce tourist numbers, especially during peak seasons. This leads to protests and sometimes even attacks on tourists, as observed again this summer in Spain. 

In recent months, cities like Barcelona and Palma de Mallorca have seen protests from residents who say the influx of tourists is driving up housing and service prices and is increasingly straining local communities.

In response, authorities in regions such as Catalonia, Andalucia, the Balearic Islands and the Canary Islands have begun introducing measures aimed at mitigating the negative impact. These include the implementation of tourist taxes, tighter regulations on short-term holiday rentals, and restrictions on cruise ship arrivals.

In the Netherlands, the historic windmills and gabled wooden houses in the area of Zaanse Schans are a must-see for any visitor. But the village near Amsterdam has become “a national symbol of overtourism”, according to local authorities, who want to charge a hotly contested entrance fee from next year. 

Areas such as the popular Athens neighbourhood of Plaka are saturated by tourists, Mayor Haris Doukas said. Restaurants are encroaching on public space and rules banning hotels were dodged and buildings converted into short-term rentals, lawyer Dimitris Melissas said.  The conservative government has banned new registrations of apartments on short-term rental platforms for at least a year in central Athens, where more than 12,000 seasonal lets existed in 2024, fuelling rent rises.

Greece also began charging a tax on island cruise ships in July in an effort to curb tourist numbers. 

How to square the circle

Regions take different approaches on how to battle overtourism while at the same time not killing the golden-egg-laying goose, for example: 

Infrastructure investment: Reinvesting tourism tax revenues into public services and resilience, like Iceland reinvesting levies directly into environmental protection.
Strategic planning: The Croatian city of Dubrovnik partners with the cruise line association to schedule berthing.
Resident empowerment: Community involvement in tourism planning, as for example practiced in Flanders with the Travel to Tomorrow project.
Diversification: Promoting off-season and alternative tourism products, like Austria’s ski resorts promoting hiking holidays.
Regulatory tools: Tourism taxes, visitor caps, such as Venice’s visitor access fee.
However, not all of them are equally effective. The WTTC argues in a report released in July that tourism taxes do not in fact reduce visitor numbers and that the money is rarely reinvested in tourism management. 

The industry group also warns that curbing tourism in European cities could lead to high losses in income and jobs.