Mass tourism in some destination hotspots in Europe has reached a tipping point as travel returns to pre-pandemic levels. Locals, fed up with crowded streets, rowdy tourists and with being squeezed out of the housing market, are fighting back — including by aiming water guns at visitors in Barcelona and holding protests from Paris to Venice.

Who’s to blame for the deluge of visitors? From social media and the rise of the “bucket-list” travel, to the of explosion of short-stay platforms, there are plenty of potential culprits. Residents say their governments — many of which welcome the income from tourism — could be doing more to ease the strain on them. Feargus O’Sullivan breaks down Europe’s over-tourism challenge today on CityLab: Are Tourists Ruining Europe? How Locals Are Pushing Back

— Linda Poon

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