Admittedly, a wonderful photo subject: the church of St. Johann in Ranui with the Dolomite peaks in the background.Image: Shutterstock
Overtourism has plagued many tourist hotspots in recent months. In order to control the flow of visitors, various measures were introduced – these only in the weeks of February.
March 1, 2026, 2:26 p.mMarch 1, 2026, 2:26 p.m
The term “overtourism” has been floating around the world for around ten years. However, the phenomenon of not just many, but too many people visiting a place is older. Examples of this are Venice or the Ballermann on Mallorca in the 1970s (sometimes even earlier).
In such cases, people used to speak of “mass tourism”, but this is not the same as overtourism (see info box). In mass tourism, many tourists concentrate on places that are usually prepared for it, such as holiday resorts with large hotel complexes on the Mediterranean.
Due to social media, booking platforms such as Airbnb and cheap airfares, controlling tourists is no longer so easy, and places that are not (or were) not prepared for this are flooded by a trigger and it is referred to as “overtourism”. The best-known examples are in Switzerland Aescher in the National Geographic book “Places of a Lifetime” (2015) or Iseltwald through the South Korean Netflix series “Crash Landing on You” (2019–2020).
To combat overtourism, different affected places are taking different measures. There is no patent recipe (so far). In the last few days alone there have been reports of too many tourists in several places.
Haworth
The picturesque Yorkshire village of Haworth is feeling the success of the new Hollywood film adaptation of Emily Brontë’s classic “Wuthering Heights”. According to the Daily Mail, some of the visitors do not know that it is not a “Disneyland” but a normal village. Spicy: No scene in the film takes place in the small town with a population of 6,250. The backdrop was the landscape of the North Yorkshire Dales.
Cobblestones and typical English flair in Haworth.Image: Shutterstock
Traffic chaos and parking problems are the most obvious consequences of the rush. But some business people are also happy about the new customers, especially at a time when there isn’t much going on in the north of England.
St. Magdalene
St.Magdalena (Italian: St.Maddalena), at the very back of the long Villnöss valley, offers a beautiful mountain world. Ever since the magazine “Geo” named the 500-person village in the Dolomites “probably the most beautiful village in South Tyrol,” it has been literally overrun by tourists.
Many tourists travel to see this church.Image: keystone
The main motif for the many guests is the church, which sits on a hill above the village. Buses from tour groups clog the narrow streets in the valley, the parking spaces are full and there is a lot of parking.
A barrier should remedy the situation in 2026. For 20,000 euros, access to the church and the village will be blocked with a state-of-the-art system that is also equipped with cameras. It should go into operation by May at the latest. “We hope that this will get us to grips with the matter,” says Mayor Peter Pernthaler. “But we’re not sure.”
Fujiyoshida
The world-famous cherry blossom festival in Arakurayama-Sengen Park at the foot of Mount Fuji in Japan will not take place in 2026. The Fujiyoshida city administration justifies the decision with overtourism; there have simply been too many visitors recently.
The well-known picture with Mount Fuji in the background.Image: Shutterstock
Despite measures to direct visitors and additional controls last year, the enormous number of travelers put too much strain on the infrastructure, traffic and everyday life in the city of 50,000 inhabitants. In particular, large amounts of garbage were a problem. During the peak of the cherry blossom season in early April, around 200,000 people came to the park.
Mass tourism or overtourism?
Mass tourism refers to the travel of large numbers of people to popular destinations, often with standardized offers. Overtourism, on the other hand, describes the situation in which tourism reaches a level that noticeably affects the quality of life of the local population and the experience of visitors.
Lincoln’s Rock
For a long time, Lincoln’s Rock was simply a beautiful viewing rock in the Blue Mountains National Park about two hours from Sydney. Then Jennie Kim, megastar and member of the popular K-pop band Balckpink, posted a photo of herself sitting on a precipice in the national park in 2023.
Kim has around 90 million followers and since then the place has been flooded with tourists wanting to recreate exactly this image. Sometimes hundreds, sometimes thousands, flock to the rock on Little Switzerland Drive every day hoping for one of the 16 parking spaces.
This isn’t Jennie Kim, but it’s Lincoln’s Rock.Image: Shutterstock
The Blue Mountains City Council was forced to temporarily close access to the lookout last month until a long-term solution was found. A decision that has led to a debate among residents, nature conservationists and companies that rely on tourism. The residents of the towns in the area make their living largely from tourism.
Various options are being discussed in Lincoln’s Rock: closing dangerous sections, limited access times and a daily cap on visitors.
Capri
Capri is one of the most famous and most visited holiday destinations in Italy. In high season, visitor flows reach an average of up to 50,000 people per day. Only around 13,000 residents live on the small island. Especially in summer, the island’s harbors, viewpoints and historical sights are regularly overcrowded.
Capri becomes more difficult to reach for larger groups.Image: Shutterstock
From the coming summer season, stricter rules will apply to tourists on the popular Italian Mediterranean island: then only organized tour groups of a maximum of 40 people will be allowed on land. This was reported by the Ansa news agency, citing a unanimous decision by the local council of the island in the Gulf of Naples.
The rules adopted also stipulate that tour guides with groups of more than 20 people are no longer allowed to use loudspeakers during tours through the main town of Capri. Instead, they should talk to travelers via radio headphones in order to protect other people – especially locals – in the area from the noise pollution.
Rome
The Trevi Fountain is one of the most popular photo subjects in Rome, which is certainly not short on sights. But measures have now been taken with the huge fountain.
The Trevi Fountain in December 2025.Image: keystone
Since February 2, 2026, you have to pay two euros entrance fee for a demarcated area directly at the water basin of the “Fontana di Trevi”. With this measure, the Italian capital is trying to better channel the flow of visitors to one of Rome’s most important tourist magnets and to prevent the crowding that has become common.
Since February 2, 2026, a picture of the Trevi Fountain requires an entry ticket for 2 euros.Image: keystone
The number of visitors to the Trevi Fountain has been limited for about a year now: a maximum of 400 people are allowed to stay at the pool at the same time. Last year, more than ten million visitors were counted, with peaks of up to 70,000 people per day. The ticket was introduced to “counter overcrowding, improve the visitor experience and protect one of the city’s most popular monuments,” said Rome.
St. Anton
At the end, no concrete measure, but a scene like the one that has recently appeared again and again on the Internet. Last year, for example, it was Motorcade to Yosemite National Park in California or the Crowds of visitors on Lake Como. A video from St. Anton am Arlberg recently made the rounds, showing winter sports athletes on the slopes and queuing: