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Associated Press

The doorbell to Martinho de Almada Pimentel’s mountainside mansion in Sintra, Portugal, is hard to find, and he likes it that way.
Guests pull a long rope that rings a bell on the roof to announce their presence at this monument to privacy his great-grandfather built in 1914.
There is precious little of that for Pimentel during this summer of “overtourism” in what has long been one of Portugal’s wealthiest places, attracting visitors with its cool microclimate and scenery.
Travellers in standstill traffic outside the sun-washed walls of Casa do Cipreste sometimes spot the bell and pull the string “because it’s funny”, Pimentel says.

With the windows open, he can smell car exhaust fumes and hear the “tuk-tuk” of outsize scooters, named for the sound they make.
He can also sense the frustration of 5,000 visitors a day who are forced to queue on the road that passes his house and crawl up single-lane switchbacks to visit Pena Palace, at one time the retreat of King Ferdinand II, the de facto first king of Spain.

“Now I’m more isolated than during Covid,” the soft-spoken Pimentel, who lives alone, says. “Now I try to [not] go out. I feel angry.”
This is what it means for a place to be visited in 2024, the first year in which global tourism is expected to set records since the Covid-19 pandemic brought much of life on Earth to a halt.
Tourism is surging rather than levelling off, driven by lingering revenge travel, digital nomad campaigns and so-called golden visas blamed in part for skyrocketing house prices.
Anyone paying attention during this summer of overtourism will be familiar with the consequences around the world: traffic jams in paradise, reports of hospitality workers living in tents and anti-tourism protests intended to shame visitors as they dine – or, as in Barcelona in July, douse them with water pistols.

The demonstrations are an example of residents using the power of their numbers and social media to issue an ultimatum to officials: manage tourism better or we will scare away visitors who may spend their money elsewhere.
Housing prices, traffic and water management are all contentious issues.
Cue the violins, you might grouse, for people like Pimentel who are well-off enough to live in places worth visiting. But it is not just a problem for rich people.
“To not be able to get an ambulance or to not be able to get my groceries is a rich people problem?” asks Matthew Bedell, another resident of Sintra. The Unesco-recognised town has no pharmacy or grocery store in its centre. “Those don’t feel like rich people problems to me,” he adds.

Overtourism is “arguably a social phenomenon”, according to a 2023 analysis written for the World Economic Forum.
In China and India, the report says, crowded places are more socially accepted, which “suggests that cultural expectations of personal space and expectations of exclusivity differ”.
The summer of 2023 was defined by the chaos of the journey itself – airports and airlines were overwhelmed, American travellers faced nightmarish waits for passports to be issued. Yet by the end of the year, there were signs that post-Covid revenge travel was accelerating.
This January, the United Nations’ tourism agency predicted that worldwide tourism would exceed the record set in 2019 by 2 per cent. By the end of March, it reported more than 285 million tourists had travelled internationally, about 20 per cent more than in the first quarter of 2023.
Europe remained the most-visited destination. The World Travel and Tourism Council (WTTC) projected in April that 142 of the 185 countries it analysed would set records for tourism, and that this would collectively generate US$11.1 trillion and 330 million jobs.
But with increases in revenue came trouble this year, as Spain experienced with its water management problems, skyrocketing housing prices and drunken tourist drama.
Protests erupted across the country as early as March.
There’s been backlash against the business models on which modern tourism has been built and the lack of response by politicians
Michael O’Regan, lecturer on tourism and events at Glasgow Caledonian University
Thousands of demonstrators in the Canary Islands protested against tourism and construction that was overwhelming water services and jacking up housing prices.
In Barcelona, protesters shamed and squirted water at people presumed to be visitors as they dined alfresco on touristy Las Ramblas.
In Japan, where tourism is expected to break records in 2024, tourists were banned from entering certain alleys in the ancient city of Kyoto.
Limits were also placed on the amount of people climbing Mount Fuji. And in Fujikawaguchiko, a town offering some of the best views of the mountain, a large black screen was erected in a convenience store car park to deter tourists and prevent overcrowding.
The tourists struck back by cutting holes in the screen at eye level. The barrier has since been removed – for now – to prevent it from being damaged by strong winds.

Unesco has warned of potential damage to protected areas around the world. Fodor’s No List 2024 urged people to reconsider visiting some travel hotspots, including overcrowded sites in Greece and Vietnam, and areas with water management problems in California, India and Thailand.
Not-yet-hot spots looked to capitalise on “de-touristing” drives such as Amsterdam’s “Stay Away” campaign aimed at badly behaved young men.
The “Welcome to MonGOlia” campaign, for example, beckoned from the land of Genghis Khan. Visits to that country jumped 25 per cent year on year in the first seven months of 2024.
Tourism is surging to the extent that some experts say the term “overtourism” is outdated.
Michael O’Regan, a lecturer on tourism and events at Glasgow Caledonian University, in Scotland, argues that overtourism has become a buzzword that does not reflect the fact that the experience depends largely on the success or failure of crowd management.
Many of the recent anti-tourism demonstrations were not aimed at the tourists themselves, but at the leaders who have allowed the residents who should benefit to become the ones who pay.

“There’s been backlash against the business models on which modern tourism has been built and the lack of response by politicians,” says O’Regan.
Tourism “came back quicker than we expected”, he continues, adding that tourists are not the problem. “There’s a global fight for tourists. We can’t ignore that [ …] So what happens when we get too many tourists? Destinations need to do more research.”
Virpi Makela, who runs Casa do Valle bed and breakfast in Sintra, describes how visitors call her in anguish because they cannot figure out how to find her property amid the town’s “disorganised” traffic rules that seem to change without notice.
“There’s a pillar in the middle of the road that goes up and down and you can’t go forward because you ruin your car. So you have to somehow come down but you can’t turn around, so you have to back down the road,” says the resident of Portugal for 36 years.
“And then people get so frustrated they come to our road, which also has a sign that says ‘authorised vehicles only’, and they block everything,” she adds.
Nobody disputes that the tourism boom in Portugal needs to be managed better.

The WTTC predicted in April that the country’s tourism sector would grow by 24 per cent this year versus 2019 levels and account for about 20 per cent of the national economy.
Housing prices, driven upwards by a growing influx of foreign investors and tourists seeking short-term rentals, were already pushing an increasing number of people out of the property market.
In response to issues voiced by residents, Lisbon announced plans to halve the number of tuk-tuks allowed in the city, and built more parking spaces for them after residents complained they were blocking traffic.
Sintra, which is 40 minutes west of the capital by train, has invested in more car parks outside town, and youth housing at lower prices near the centre, according to officials.

More than 3 million people every year visit the mountains and castles of Sintra.
Sintra City Hall says that fewer tickets to the nearby historic sites are now being sold. This year Pena Palace began to permit the sale of less than half the 12,000 tickets per day sold there in the past.
But this is not enough, say residents, who have formed an association that challenges the local government to “put residents first” and to communicate with them better.
They also want to know the government’s plan for managing guests at a new hotel being built to increase the number of overnight stays, and more limits on the number of cars and visitors allowed.
“We’re not against tourists,” reads the group’s manifesto. “We’re against the pandemonium that [local leaders] cannot resolve.”


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Tourism

From Barcelona to Portugal to Japan, how overtourism is causing chaos in summer 2024

Tourists at Kiyomizu-dera temple in Kyoto, where authorities have banned visitors from entering certain streets. With global tourism on track to break records in 2024, residents of some of the world’s most visited places are being left disgruntled as the crowds bring problems. Photo: EPA-EFE

Martinho de Almada Pimentel at his mountainside mansion, Casa do Cipreste, in Sintra, Portugal. Photo: AP

A banner protesting overtourism on a roadside in Sintra. Photo: Bloomberg

Demonstrators cordon off a bar-restaurant during a protest against mass tourism on Barcelona’s Las Ramblas in July. Photo: AFP

Anti-tourism banners hang from balconies at a house in Sintra. Bad traffic and pollution are just a couple of the issues associated with overtourism in the leafy Portuguese town. Photo: Bloomberg

Mount Fuji seen through a hole cut through a black screen installed by the town of Fujikawaguchiko to deter photographers and prevent overcrowding at this famous viewing spot. Photo: Kyodo News via AP

Demonstrators protesting against overtourism in Barcelona in June, 2024. Photo: AP

Although anti-tourism protesters in Barcelona and other places have tended not to mince their words, many demonstrations have not been aimed at tourists themselves, but at leaders who have allowed local residents to suffer. Photo: AFP

A tuk-tuk transports tourists in Sintra, Portugal. A 40-minute train ride away, Lisbon has announced it will halve the number of tuk-tuks in the city. Photo: AP

Viral TikTok ‘Temple Run’ videos put Cambodia’s Angkor Wat at risk – ‘it’s nonsense’

A Facebook user’s post on a temple run at Angkor Wat. Credit Facebook

A still from a “Temple Run” video post on Facebook, filmed at Angkor Wat. Videos of tourists running around Cambodia’s ancient temple complex are going viral on TikTok, Facebook, YouTube and other social media. Photo: Facebook

A still from a user’s Facebook video post of them doing a temple run at Angkor Wat. Photo: Facebook

Tourists visit the Angkor Wat temple complex on April 7, 2022. Photo: AFP

Indian vistadome train ride whose scenic beauty saved line from closure: what it’s like

A panoramic view of the Ambika river. The river provides fantastic views while riding the NG Mix Passenger Special, a slow vistadome train, through the countryside of India’s Gujarat state. Photo: Anita Rao Kashi

The train before it leaves Waghai station. Photo: Anita Rao Kashi

The vistadome coach has large windows that allow a better view of the outside. Photo: Anita Rao Kashi

Views of forest from the train. Photo: Anita Rao Kashi

Vagdev stones seen from the train. Photo: Anita Rao Kashi

Where to travel in 2024, from Melbourne to Malta, Utah to Udaipur, according to Expedia, Lonely Planet, American Express Travel and more – and where to avoid

Twin towers of Viru Gate in the old town of Tallinn, Estonia Photo: Shutterstock

Castelsardo in Sardinia, Italy, is one of many 2024 travel recommendations from the likes of Forbes, National Geographic and more. Photo: Shutterstock

Skiers in Niseko, Hokkaido. The Japanese ski resort is recommended by Forbes and American Express Travel as a travel destination in 2024. Photo: Shutterstock

Vietnam’s Ha Long Bay is recommended by Forbes as a place to see in 2024 but Fodor’s says to give it a miss because of overtourism. Photo: Shutterstock

San Leo medieval castle in Emilia-Romagna. The Italian region is recommended by National Geographic. Photo: Shutterstock

A scuba diver in Coron, in the Philippines, recommended by Fodor’s. Photo: Shutterstock

A shopping centre in Accra. The Ghanaian capital is recommended by Condé Nast Traveller. Photo: Shutterstock

Archers on horseback during the opening ceremony for the Naadam summer festival in Ulaanbaatar, Mongolia. The country is on Condé Nast Traveller’s list of 24 Best Places to Go in 2024. Photo: Shutterstock

The twin towers of Viru Gate in the old town of Tallinn, Estonia. Photo: Shutterstock

The Puffing Billy steam train in Victoria, Australia is recommended by Lonely Planet. Photo: Shutterstock

Aitutaki Lagoon in the Cook Islands, recommended by Frommer’s for its mainly empty beaches. Photo: Shutterstock

Lifestyle

Travel & Leisure

Rising house prices, traffic and pollution, and poor water management, have angered residents from Lisbon to Kyoto as tourism surges in 2024


2023 was all about travel disruptions, but this year the problems are at the destinations themselves, as overtourism leaves residents angry.
