Europe’s Vacation Hotspots Still Crawling With Tourists

Image Credit: GTP

Regardless of any news that has come from Europe, tourism has remained a strong and important sector in many European economies.

Some countries in the Eurozone draw more foreigners every year than the population of the entire country! Tourism has made Europe billions of dollars, and the industry won’t be going anywhere soon. That being said, the European tourism industry has been a challenge at times, and the industry is still changing.

Tourism is on the rise on a global level, with Asia going through a 9% uptick in tourists in 2016. Latin America saw the contribution of tourism to GDP rise 3.4% in 2018. It’s Europe that has primarily been the subject of most of the world’s tourism, however.

In 2017, approximately 87 million tourists visited France, which has consistently held the place of the most toured country in the world. This is a significant increase from previous years’ tourism numbers, and France isn’t alone. In 2017 58.3, million people visited Italy, and 17.9 million visited the Netherlands.

This tourism represents a huge source of revenue for millions of Europeans, so more tourists is a generally welcome idea. However, this huge uptick in tourism hasn’t gone so smoothly everywhere. Take the example of Venice, Italy, which receives almost 30 million tourists per year (about half of all tourists to Italy). This overcrowding has prompted local officials to charge an “entry fee” of $11 just to get into the city. There are simply too many tourists on day trips for the city to handle. Barcelona is facing a similar problem to that of Venice.

Tourism is certainly on the rise around the world, and that won’t change soon, especially in Europe. It’s always important for officials to make sure that tourism is an enjoyable and safe experience for tourists while also ensuring that tourism always benefits the local economy. These considerations are what led to the fee to enter Venice, and these are the reasons that tourism agencies and even national governments often spend so much on marketing their nicest locations.

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5 years ago
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