Overtourism describes destinations where hosts or guests, locals or visitors, feel that there are too many tourists and that the quality of life in the area or the quality of the experience has deteriorated unacceptably. Overtourism has multiple causes, which occur in various combinations in different places or destinations.
The language is important. Places are where people live, work, marry, raise children, retire, grow old, and die. They are where people live. Destinations are where tourists go to relax. The tourists, whether temporary residents or day visitors, have leisure and money to travel – they will be engaging in conspicuous consumption and will generally be wealthier than most of the locals. As the volume of tourism increases locals are impacted by crowding; rising prices in cafes, bars and restaurants, as the “outsiders” can afford to pay more; local bakers, butchers and grocery stores are replaced by tourist shops able to pay higher rents. In Barceloneta, conflict has arisen between local residents and outsiders who are competing for space on the beach; the beach is free for locals and tourists, but locals understandably resent the intrusion into their neighbourhood and recreational space.
The pressure on accommodation is arguably both more pernicious and more difficult to deal with. The English Housing Survey (EHS) reveals that in 2021-22, 2.1 million households reported having at least one second property. In 2021-22, there were 809,000 second homes owned by households in England, an increase of 13% or just under 100,000 homes on 2010-11. One in ten of those households which own a second home, owns more than one additional home.
The survey reveals that 45% of second homes are used as holiday homes, 9% for retirement, 8% to provide accommodation away from home, perhaps for weekly commuting, and 35% as long-term investments. The commodification of housing is arguably at least as big an issue as the tourism use, causing the current high levels of no-fault evictions. The UK housing charity Shelter estimates that 172 families a day are served a Section 21 eviction notice. While some may result from the tenant’s behaviour or failure to pay, many are a result of owners deciding to sell or the inability of the tenants to pay a rent rise. Increases in interest rates impact sharply on bother mortgage payers and renters.
Returning to tourism, the impact of tourism on housing availability varies. Potential solutions are available, but they do not lie with tourism administrations. This is one of the many areas of managing tourism, particularly overtourism, which requires a whole-of-government approach. The relationship is often complex with national and local government regulation.
In Wales and Scotland, national governments have enabled local authorities to charge a higher level of property tax on second homes. In the UK changes in the regulations on short-term letting impact on rental prices and tenant security. Houst uses both short and long-term bookings to earn their clients up to 30% more. With offices in Britain, Ireland, France, Portugal, Spain, the UAE and South Africa, Houst claims since its launch in 2015, it has managed over a quarter of a million guest stays and earned its clients over £111 million using multiple platforms. Internet platforms have dramatically increased the opportunities for private owners to rent out properties and increased their security in doing so. For example, Airbnb offers guest identity verification, reservation screening and damage protection for renters and advice on taxation. Gone are the days when you might rent a gîte or holiday cottage through a small ad in the Sunday papers.
In Barcelona, the city worked with the tax authorities to find and regulate all the short-term let properties. Barcelona has just over 10,000 licenced tourist apartments. This has led to dramatic inflation in rents and purchase prices. Jaume Collboni, the city’s mayor, has announced that if plans go ahead with no hiccups, “from 2029, tourist flats as we conceive of them today will disappear from the city of Barcelona”.
The form of tourism use affects the impacts. Both holiday lets, short-term rentals, and second homes reduce the supply of housing for locals, driving up prices and often forcing young people and families to move to areas where housing is cheaper. This fragments extended families, which can have significant negative social impacts. Holiday-lets, second homes and retirement properties, where people from cities relocate to retire in rural or coastal areas, all result in raised property prices for buyers and renters. But there are notable differences:
Retirees: by moving to retire, in addition to putting pressure on local housing costs, they increase pressure on social services and the health service. The regulations around static caravans are complex and are likely to make the residents very car-dependent, which is a major issue when they are no longer able to drive. According to the Office for National Statistics across England and Wales 104,00 households lived in a caravan, or other mobile or temporary structure in 2021, 85,000 more than in 2011.
Holiday-lets: Airbnb started as a platform to enable people to rent out rooms or a couch in their own house; this provides additional income into the local community and does little to raise housing costs. However, by facilitating the renting out of whole properties, the platforms have made it much easier for people to buy properties to generate income, and that income does not accrue to the local community. Holiday-let accommodation reduces the number of family homes, reducing the viability of schools, and shifting the local economy to meet the needs of tourists rather than residents.
TUI CEO Sebastian Ebel has commented on the protests in the Canary Islands: “These are not protests against tourism. They are protests for tourism that is socially responsible and economically successful for the local people…. There are two forms of tourism. Organized, one could say, steered tourism. This is what the classic package holiday stands for. Guests go to hotels built for holidaymakers and where many local people work. And there are individual trips, where people often spend their holidays in flats and apartments. To put it bluntly, it’s about Airbnb and other online platforms. … there are too few (residential) apartments because more and more living space is being offered as vacation rentals on online platforms such as Airbnb – largely unregulated. This not only reduces the supply of living space, but also drives up the prices for available apartments. The fact that local politicians have not yet taken action here is driving people onto the streets. Compare that with a hotel which offers jobs for people for decades.”
Second homes are perhaps the worst case; occupied for only a few weeks a year, the community is likely to see falling school enrolments and other community facilities as the place is hollowed out. The community is effectively depopulated for a large part of the year, reducing local demand for bakers, butchers and newsagents etc.
