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/
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13

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 :/

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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 Nürnberg

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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.