With the summer holiday season around the corner, popular tourist destinations are bracing for the visitor influx.
Many hotspots are now synonymous with overtourism, like Venice, Barcelona and Amsterdam.
But a new report by Which? Travel suggests it’s also smaller destinations in Europe that are bearing the brunt of mass tourism.
Zakynthos overwhelmed by 150 tourists per resident
The new research analysed the impact of overtourism through three different metrics, based on figures from the European Commission.
As well as total overnight stays, it looked at the density of tourists per square kilometre and the number of tourists per resident.
The latter highlighted some destinations that travellers might not be aware are suffering from the pressures of mass tourism.
Zakynthos (Zante) topped the list with a whopping 150 to 1 ratio of visitors to residents.
The Greek island is touted as a paradisiacal resort where there are still plenty of wild and undiscovered pockets.
But the findings from Which? paint a different picture – one of a destination facing rising housing costs, environmental damage and a strain on local infrastructure during peak periods.
“It’s becoming harder for residents to live comfortably here year-round,” a local resident from the island’s main town told Greek news site Neos Kosmos.
“Rents are up, traffic is constant in summer, and services are stretched thin. We welcome tourism, but the volume has to be managed.”
The destination that came in second place for the number of tourists per resident is also one that travellers might not immediately associate with overtourism.
Istria in Croatia is straining under the pressure of 133,467 visitors per 1,000 locals, despite still often being dubbed the country’s ‘best kept secret’.
Canary Islands receive record-breaking visitor numbers despite protests
The third most crowded destination, however, is one that is increasingly vocal about its struggle with overtourism.
In Fuerteventura on the Canary Islands, visitors outnumber residents by 120 to 1, according to the study.
Despite dozens of resident protests against mass tourism last summer, the archipelago received more than 1.55 million foreign visitors in March 2025, a record-breaking figure and up 0.9 per cent compared to the same month last year.
The destinations topping the ranking for highest tourist density are also unsurprising. Paris receives a staggering 418,280 visitors per square kilometre, far outstripping Athens in second place with 88,535 and Copenhagen with 63,944.
What are Europe’s least-visited destinations?
The study also highlights the destinations least affected by mass tourism. Those with the lowest ratio of overnight stays per resident are Targovishte in Bulgaria at 332:1 and Rybnik in Poland at 351:1.
Despite Italy’s status as a tourist magnet, the city of Benevento in the southern Campania region came in third place with 398 tourists per resident.
As for the destinations with the fewest visitors per square kilometre, the top spot was taken by Jan Mayen in Norway with zero tourists. The island lies deep in the Arctic Circle and requires special permission to visit.
Teleorman in Romania with a 1.21 visitor density and Svalbard in Norway at 2.4 came in second and third place, respectively.
“What this data shows is that overtourism has overwhelmed some of Europe’s most popular destinations,” says Rory Boland, editor of Which? Travel.
“With so many fantastic places in Europe, the truth is, you are going to have a far better holiday in a destination where there are not hundreds or even thousands more tourists than there are locals.”
