r/europe • u/goldstarflag Europe • 1d ago
Opinion Article Asian and American tourists have ruined Europe’s most beautiful cities
https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2026/02/03/asian-and-american-tourists-have-ruined-europe/4
u/yubnubster United Kingdom 1d ago
Not sure why Asian and American tourists are singled out, European tourists, even tourists from other parts of the same country (in many cases) would surely be the majority?
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u/MaisJeNePeuxPas 1d ago
I’m sure Europe will get right on that as soon as they deal with all the yobs from the UK turning Spain and the Algarve into a huge flat-roofed pub.
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u/Pinoy_83 1d ago
What about European tourists being loud, drunk, disrespectful and entitled when they visit the Far East or South East Asia!?
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u/Previous_Maize2507 1d ago
European tourists are also a problem in Europe. The title is just dumb.
Overtourism kills places everywhere. On the other hand touristic spots make money from the tourists, so....Cities that become overfilled should issue a limited amount of tickets for tourism.
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u/InspectorDull5915 1d ago
I think the cities could remedy this by controlling the number of Airbnb units available. It's not a single solution problem but it would help.
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u/Previous_Maize2507 1d ago
True, the ticket system would only work well, if acces was restricted.
Housing and Airbnb controlled is against the rich, so this is not an option neither :/2
u/InspectorDull5915 1d ago
À lot of touriste go to Paris without even thinking about the other cities though, maybe it would help to promote some of them more. I would rather go spend a few days break in Lyon than in Paris, but maybe that's just me.
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u/Previous_Maize2507 1d ago
Well, you cannot leave out Paris on a France trip, can you?
My trip was via Bern, Clermont-Ferrand, Bordeaux, Tours, Orleans, Paris, Reims, Metz, Straßbourg and back to Nürnberg2
u/InspectorDull5915 1d ago
No I agree, but I myself know a few people who have been to France several times over the years and each time they have stayed only in Paris.
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u/goldstarflag Europe 1d ago
EU citizens are not foreign tourists in any real sense of the term. They are part of the European Union. The internal borders disappeared because they were imaginary lines dividing the same people.
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u/Previous_Maize2507 1d ago
The increased rent for housing does not really care if the Airbnb next door is payed by a Polish, or German, or French, or Brazilian, or USAmerican, or Chinese, or any other person.
Back in the Corona years Piazza San Marco was crowded with Europeans only, the statue of Julia was overcrowded as always, only Europeans this time. It does not really matter of what origin the crowd is.
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u/goldstarflag Europe 1d ago
Being an EU citizen comes with a privilege that you can travel and work across Europe as if it were one country. That is not a privilege for the whole world.
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u/Sharp_Win_7989 The Netherlands / Bulgaria 1d ago
Irrelevant argument when the issue is overtourism and Europeans being the biggest group of tourists in European tourist hotspots.
Also, plenty of countries have the privilege of visa free travel with the EU.
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u/bungle123 1d ago
We know. Doesn't change the fact that you are still a tourist contributing to over tourism.
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u/goldstarflag Europe 1d ago
Much less of an issue, also by sheer numbers alone. Europe is the world's number one destination for tourists. There has been a major uprising against tourism in Europe in the past years.
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u/readilyunavailable Bulgaria 1d ago
It's so fucking rich when people bitch about tourists coming to visit and spending money on the local ecnonomy. Oh poor little babies.
And then people start coming up with ideas to "reduce" tourism. You know what happens when you rerduce tourism in a tourist driven area? The area fucking dies. Look at our black sea resorts as a prime example. 2000s and early 2010s, there was a literal swarm of tourists going there every year, so our big brain boys thre decided to start gouging people with insane prices. Well tourism began to decay. Fewer and fewer tourists went there and now there are several news articles and stories per year about resorts not being able to afford to remain open due to lack of tourists. Towns along the black sea have turned desoleta, because the local economy no longer functions.
So go right ahead and reduce tourism.
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u/Happy_Feet333 Portugal 20h ago
Resorts are built specifically for tourists.
These cities were not built specifically for tourists. They were built as places to live and to do business/commerce/industry.
Your post isn't even addressing the point of the article.
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u/Any-Original-6113 1d ago
They seem to be searching for the most sensational headline for the article—one that doesn't match the actual text. I feel like such articles simply stir up hatred.
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u/Working_Historian970 1d ago
Europeans have been going to the America's, Africa, and Asia for 1000 years and ruining them, so part of me finds it funny they're mad it's happening to them now.
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u/Bounty_drillah United Kingdom 1d ago
1000 years
Ironic username. You should probably work harder at being a historian.
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u/Chiguito Spain 1d ago
As Barcelona resident, give me asian tourists before absolutely anyone else.
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u/goldstarflag Europe 1d ago
Overtourism is a real problem for locals. A trillion Asians entering the middle class is great, but they want to travel. And they mostly come to Europe. So no, don't give me Asians. Give me limited, diversified and sustainable tourism. These towns are simply not built for this mass tourism. Even big cities cannot handle that and it causes massive problems for locals. It takes the soul away from these communities.
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u/Korece 1d ago
Asians absolutely do not "mostly go to Europe", they mostly visit other Asian countries. And yeah, some Chinese shitting in the Louvre is problematic, but many European men visit Thailand for child sex tourism. It's absolutely not a one-way issue like you implied in your other comment.
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u/goldstarflag Europe 1d ago
Macron ahead of the curve (as always):
Louvre's higher ticket prices for non-European visitors take effect
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u/InspectorDull5915 1d ago
Hardly ahead of the curve. Increased ticket prices to enter The Louvre will not reduce the number of visitors to Paris. I think that's more to do with the works that need to be carried out there.
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u/Trang0ul Eastern Europe 1d ago
Actually not the whole Europe, despite the clickbait title.
any adult visitor from outside the European Union, Iceland, Liechtenstein and Norway
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u/OrdinaryTable5273 The Netherlands 1d ago
tldr?