Canary Islands in danger: Over -tourism threatens quality of life!

Canary Islands in danger: Over -tourism threatens quality of life!

Mallorca, Spanien - In 2022, the global travel volume recorded around 1.5 billion arrivals, which represents the second highest record after 2019. However, the tourism sector is increasingly criticized, in particular the term “over -tourism” is on everyone's lips. This describes the excessive crowds of travelers in a place that can affect the quality of life for both locals and vacationers. According to the UNWO, over -tourism leads to a deterioration in the quality of life due to the rapidly increasing number of visitors, which can be felt in many popular holiday destinations.

A formative example of this problem are the Canary Islands. Around 2.2 million locals live here, while in 2022 15.2 million tourists visited the islands. This enormous influx of visitors contributes to over a third of the Canary Islands economy, but the benefits of primarily large investors benefit. In addition, the increase in short -term rentals leads to an acute lack of living space and rising rents, which further exacerbated the living conditions for the locals.

environmental impacts and resource consumption

The environmental consequences of massive tourism cannot be overlooked either: noise, garbage, traffic jams and the overgrowth of water resources are everyday side effects. While vacationers consume significantly more water in many cases than the local population, this increased resource consumption has led to serious problems in some regions. An example of this is Mallorca, where the initiated wastewater endangers the sensitive sea grass meadows.

The tourism sector is also an important cause of greenhouse gas emissions, with a share of 8-10% in global emissions. Air traffic is the main cause, and between 1995 and 2019 the emissions from tourism traffic rose by alarming 65%. In Germany, short trips rose 24% to a total of 94 million in 2022, which also leads to high CO2 emissions.

The effects of cheap flights and cruises

cheap flight offers and the associated increase in travel have promoted the development of tourism hotspots. In particular, cruise ships put a significant impact on the local infrastructure, but leave only limited economic advantages on site. The phenomenon of "set jetting", in which the filming locations attract popular series and films, also led to an increase in visitor numbers in these locations, such as in Maui, Sicily or Dubrovnik.

In order to counteract the challenges of over -tourism, many cities, such as Venice or Lisbon, try to achieve a reduction in visitor numbers through access restrictions. A positive approach comes from Copenhagen, where environmentally friendly arrival is rewarded by receiving travelers free offers. Despite these efforts, there is no uniform solution to combat over -tourism, and the approaches to visitor control and distribution remain varied and individual.

For further information about the effects and challenges of tourism, please look in this report from Environmental Bundesamt .