The European Union is changing its approach to tourism: fewer crowds in hotspots, greater focus on sustainable destinations

The European Union wants to ease tourist crowds: the focus is shifting from the most overloaded destinations to lesser-known regions

The European Parliament has opened a new phase of the debate on the future of tourism in Europe, with a clear message that the sector’s growth can no longer be viewed only through the number of arrivals and overnight stays. On 18 March 2026, the Committee on Transport and Tourism adopted proposals advocating a different management of tourist flows, strengthening transport connections to less developed destinations, a stricter approach to short-term rentals, and greater involvement of local communities in shaping tourism policy. This is a non-binding resolution that still needs to be approved by the European Parliament as a whole, while the European Commission plans to publish its announced sustainable tourism strategy during the second quarter of 2026.

This approach comes at a time when European tourism is once again recording record results. According to Eurostat data, 2024 was the best tourism year in the history of the European Union, with more than three billion overnight stays in tourist accommodation establishments. At the same time, European institutions warn that strong growth is not distributed evenly, either spatially or socially. While some cities and coastal zones are suffering pressure from an excessive number of visitors, many rural, mountain, and less promoted areas still remain outside the main flows of tourist demand, although they have room for development and additional income.

From growth at any cost to managing tourist pressure

The political core of the new proposals can be summed up in a simple idea: the goal is no longer only to attract even more guests, but to distribute existing demand better. The document adopted by the parliamentary committee states the estimate that 80 percent of travellers visit only 10 percent of the world’s destinations. In the European context, this means that the greatest pressure continues to be concentrated on a few major urban centres, the best-known coastal zones, and the most exposed cultural sites, while a wide circle of other regions remains underrepresented in tourism terms.

Members of Parliament therefore call for visitors to be directed more strongly towards lesser-known, new, or more remote destinations, including inland areas, mountain regions, and regions that are not part of the classic summer routes. As potential tools, they cite the development of eno-gastronomic tourism, cycle tourism, cultural heritage, local events, and so-called regenerative tourism experiences. The idea is not only to relieve the most overloaded places during the peak season, but also to extend tourism activity beyond a few peak months and distribute a greater share of revenue across a wider territory.

Such a change is especially important for communities that have been feeling the consequences of excessive tourism in recent years. In a series of European cities, the debate on tourism is no longer conducted only through the prism of revenue from hospitality and accommodation, but also through the issue of housing, residents’ quality of life, pressure on public infrastructure, waste, noise, and the loss of local identity. In its more recent documents, the European Parliament therefore increasingly uses the term “smart tourism management”, emphasizing the need for destinations not only to be promoted, but also to be managed.

Transport links as the key to opening up less visible destinations

One of the most concrete elements of the new European line concerns transport. Members of Parliament believe that more sustainable tourism is not possible without better air, maritime, and land connections to regions that are not sufficiently accessible today. In this sense, they are asking the European Commission for a special support mechanism that would strengthen the accessibility of such destinations in the future sustainable tourism strategy.

The emphasis is not only on major infrastructure projects. The proposals also mention more concrete measures such as strengthening cross-border night trains, faster introduction of an integrated ticketing system that would include rail, air, and maritime transport, and targeted support for the leasing of electric vehicles and the development of charging stations. The message of the European institutions here is clear: travelling to less developed or lesser-known destinations must be accessible, understandable, and logistically simple if the map of European tourist demand is truly to change.

This part of the proposals fits into the broader framework that the European Commission has been developing ever since the transition pathway for tourism published in 2022. In that document, the emphasis was placed on the green and digital transition, the resilience of the sector, and the development of workforce skills. The current parliamentary initiative is now trying to translate these goals into a more concrete political direction: less reliance on overloaded “hotspot” zones, and more investment in connectivity, accessibility, and more balanced regional development.

Short-term rentals remain one of the most sensitive issues

Perhaps the most sensitive part of the entire debate concerns short-term rentals. The European Parliament welcomes the new European rules on the collection and sharing of data on short-term accommodation, which begin to apply on 20 May 2026, but at the same time considers that this is not enough to solve the problems that the explosion of platform rentals has opened up in many cities and tourist regions. According to the applicable rules, the new regulatory framework should enable more transparent data, easier identification of landlords, and better enforcement of local regulations.

However, the parliamentary committee says that an additional European framework is also needed that would more clearly define service provision standards, distinguish between host categories, and give Member States and local authorities stronger tools, including limiting the number of overnight stays, approval systems, or zoning. That message is not accidental. In recent years, European institutions have increasingly openly linked the uncontrolled growth of short-term rentals with rising housing prices, the reduction of long-term rentals for the local population, and the gradual displacement of residents from the most sought-after neighbourhoods.

The data published by the European Parliament further reinforce that context. In August 2024, 152.2 million overnight stays were recorded in short-term accommodation booked through four leading online platforms in the European Union, while in August 2019 there had been 96.9 million. This growth shows how much the market has changed in a relatively short period. At the same time, an increasing number of cities in Europe are trying to limit the negative effects of such a model through their own rules, but without quality and comparable data, local measures often remain difficult to implement.

Local communities, cultural heritage, and the question of who actually benefits

At the heart of the new European argumentation is also the question of the benefit that tourism leaves to the local community. The parliamentary committee explicitly warns that short-term economic gain must not come at the cost of losing authenticity, disrupting the social structure of settlements, or displacing residents from city centres. For this reason, the proposals also mention the possibility that environmental or tourist taxes, which some European communities have already introduced, could be a source of financing for projects beneficial to the local population and the environment.

An important part of the debate also concerns culture. Members of Parliament believe that cultural heritage must not be reduced to a backdrop for mass visitor traffic, but must remain the foundation of the quality of European tourism. In this context, the role of professional cultural workers, local organisations, and volunteers as guardians of heritage is emphasized. Parliament is therefore asking the Commission for guidelines that would encourage cultural volunteering and make it easier for citizens to be involved in preserving local values.

Such an emphasis also has a broader meaning. When European institutions talk about redirecting tourism towards lesser-known destinations, this does not only mean the geographical relocation of tourists from one point to another. It is also about changing the model, that is, about an attempt to make the tourism offer more rooted in local identity, local products, cultural content, and smaller entrepreneurs, instead of relying predominantly on standardized patterns of mass consumption.

Tourism as a major economy, but also as a public policy problem

The European Parliament and the European Commission do not hide that this is a sector of exceptional economic importance. According to Parliament, tourism in the European Union is linked to approximately 12.3 million jobs and contributes about 10.5 percent of the Union’s gross domestic product. This is precisely why European institutions are not advocating a reduction of tourism as such, but a different organisation of it. The goal is to preserve the sector’s economic strength while at the same time mitigating its most pronounced negative consequences.

This is politically sensitive because tourism largely remains within the competence of Member States and local authorities. The European Union cannot unilaterally prescribe a single model for all cities, coastal destinations, or rural regions. However, it can create a regulatory framework, encourage data sharing, direct financial instruments, and shape common priorities. It is precisely at this level that the battle for a new European strategy is now being fought: whether it will remain at the declarative level or become an operational tool for real changes on the ground.

An additional political signal also came from earlier statements by the European Commissioner for Transport and Tourism, Apostolos Tzitzikostas, who said at the beginning of 2025 that regions often invest more in promotion than in managing tourist flows. That assessment sums up the problem that European institutions are now trying to address. Promotion alone is no longer enough, especially where the number of visitors already exceeds the capacities of space, infrastructure, and housing.

What comes next and can the European approach really change

At this moment, this is still not a final European strategy, but rather clear political pressure on the Commission to shape such a strategy more ambitiously. The Committee on Transport and Tourism adopted its proposals by 33 votes in favour, four against, and four abstentions, and the next step should be confirmation in the European Parliament at plenary level. The Commission’s strategy itself, according to the official work plan for 2026, should be non-binding, but aimed at balancing the economic, social, and environmental effects of tourism.

Whether that will be enough will depend above all on whether Member States and local authorities obtain the tools they have so far lacked: more reliable data on platform accommodation, financial and transport support for the development of less visible regions, as well as political space to restrict models that increase revenue but undermine the everyday lives of residents. For European tourism, this is an important test of maturity. After decades in which success almost automatically meant even more arrivals, Brussels is now increasingly openly saying that the future of the sector will depend on how capable Europe will be of reconciling the interests of travellers, the economy, and the communities that receive those travellers.

Sources:

• - European Parliament – press release on the proposals of the Committee on Transport and Tourism for smarter tourism management, relieving overloaded destinations, transport connectivity, and regulation of short-term rentals (link)
• - European Parliament, Legislative Train – announcement that the European Commission plans to publish a non-binding sustainable tourism strategy in the second quarter of 2026 (link)
• - European Commission – overview of the transition pathway for tourism, with an emphasis on the green and digital transition, sector resilience, and skills development (link)
• - EUR-Lex – Regulation (EU) 2024/1028 on the collection and sharing of data related to short-term accommodation rental services (link)
• - European Parliament – overview of the new rules for greater transparency of short-term rentals and data on the growth of overnight stays via digital platforms (link)
• - Eurostat – announcement that 2024 was a record tourism year in the European Union with more than three billion overnight stays (link)
• - European Parliament, EPRS – analysis of the role of tourism in transport policy, the problem of overtourism, and the need for better management of tourist flows (link)
• - European Commission – EDEN initiative for promoting lesser-known and sustainable European destinations (link)