This European city feels the highest impact of overtourism

You’ll find it in Croatia, and at 27 tourists per inhabitant it can be kind of suffocating

The German holiday rental website Holidu recently compiled a list of the top European cities that are most affected by overtourism. Using 2023 data from Euromonitor, the researchers used as a metric the number of incoming tourists per inhabitant. The results showed that Dubrovnik, in Croatia, was the most crowded city by tourists with 27 visitors per inhabitant.

The results of the analysis are quite poignant since tourist numbers in European hotspots have been steadily increasing in recent years, except for the brief respite provided by the COVID-19 pandemic restrictions on travel.

The Pearl of the Adriatic, as Dubrovnik is popularly known, has been a magnet for visitors even during the Yugoslav years. However, the increase in free travel, cruise travel and the cultural effect of the popular TV series Game of Thrones (parts of it were filmed in the Old Town) has only exacerbated the situation so that now it is rather problematic.

The Pearl of the Adriatic is too attractive

The Dubrovnik Tourist Board, however, is already starting to work at coming up with ideas on how to stem the tourist flow in a way that makes it more manageable and bearable.

This includes, among other things, a system for predicting the number of visitors or limiting the simultaneous arrivals of cruise ships to two per day. According to the tourist board, studies have already confirmed positive trends in the distribution of the number of visitors in Dubrovnik.

The other top 5 European cities suffering from tourist crowding

If you’re curious about which other places made the top 5 in that ranking, you may be surprised to find out that the second most visited destination was the island of Rhodes, which suffered devastating fires last summer. It’s nearly as popular as Dubrovnik with 26 visitors per inhabitant.

Third comes Venice with 21 visitors per local resident. The Italian city literally suffers under the weight of its popularity, as it sinks into the muddy bottom of its lagoon. That of course has to do more with environmental impact but nevertheless, the city authorities kicked off their long-discussed pay-per-visit scheme.

The fourth most visited destination is Heraklion in Crete (18 tourists per inhabitant). It suffers more from the fact that it’s a common gateway to the Greek island.

Another Italian city – Florence – rounds off the top 5. The tourist crowding there is to the magnitude of 13 visitors per inhabitant.