Eurostat data reveals high mass tourism ratios in European regions

Eurostat data from 2024 reveals significant imbalances between tourist numbers and local populations across several European regions, highlighting the growing impact of mass tourism. The Southern Aegean region shows the most extreme ratio, with an average of 127 tourist overnight stays per inhabitant, including popular islands such as Santorini, Mykonos, and Rhodes.

Other areas experiencing high density include the Ionian Islands, which recorded 103 overnight stays per resident. In mountainous and coastal regions, South Tyrol saw 69 stays per inhabitant, while the Croatian Adriatic coast recorded 67. In contrast, the German region of Mecklenburg-Vorpommern reported a much lower ratio of 19 stays per inhabitant.

In terms of absolute volume, the Canary Islands remain the most popular EU destination with approximately 99.5 million overnight stays, averaging 271,000 per day. This is followed by Catalonia with 88.7 million stays and the Croatian Adriatic coast with 88.4 million.