Residents in Croatia, Spain, Greece protest

Residents in Croatia, Spain and Greece are describing the same strain in different forms: roads clogged by seasonal traffic, housing pushed out of local reach, and historic centers reoriented around visitors. A May 19 report by Balkan Insight said people in heavily visited destinations across southern Europe told the outlet that daily life was being “turned upside down” by overtourism and cruise traffic. In Barcelona, city officials have elevated that pressure into a formal policy fight, with tourism commissioner José Antonio Donaire saying his job is to return parts of the city to residents. The debate now centers on concrete tools — tourist taxes, short-term rental limits and caps on cruise activity — rather than on whether the problem exists. ### Why are Croatia, Spain and Greece being grouped together in this debate? Balkan Insight reported on May 19 that residents from Croatia, Greece and Spain described similar complaints despite different local economies and tourism models. The outlet said its reporting drew on responses from more than 180 people in eight countries, including Greece, Croatia and Spain, and found recurring concerns over high prices, noise, overloaded infrastructure and the erosion of local ways of life. (unitedcultures.org) Croatia offers one of the clearest examples because tourism carries unusual economic weight there. El País reported in February that tourism accounts for about 20% of Croatia’s GDP, while the country of 3.8 million people has been moving to control short-term rentals and manage visitor flows as housing costs rise in cities such as Dubrovnik, Split and Zadar. ### What does the pressure look like on the ground in Dubrovnik? (unitedcultures.org) Dubrovnik resident Ivana Misic told Balkan Insight that a five-kilometer trip from Zupa Dubrovacka to the Old Town can stretch from minutes outside the season to an hour or even two in spring and summer. She said parking pressure had already begun by April and that commuters can spend two hours a day in traffic queues. Dubrovnik recorded more than 1.3 million arrivals last year and just over 4.2 million overnight stays, Balkan Insight reported. (english.elpais.com) El País separately described Dubrovnik, a city of about 41,500 residents, as a place where crowding, inflation and housing pressure have altered daily life, with journalist Hrvoje Kresic calling it an “open-air museum.” ### What is Barcelona actually trying to change? Barcelona City Council created the post of commissioner for sustainable tourism management and appointed José Antonio Donaire in June 2025. (unitedcultures.org) The city said Donaire’s remit includes improving the temporal and spatial distribution of visitors, cracking down on illegal business activity, investing tourist-tax revenue in residents’ living conditions, and negotiating with the port to lower the number of cruise terminals. Mayor Jaume Collboni said at the time that the appointment would help carry out “courageous decisions” to preserve residents’ quality of life. The city also said those measures included phasing out licences for tourist-use accommodations by 2028. A Guardian profile published on May 18 said Donaire was starting with Barcelona’s most iconic market and was not seeking to end tourism but to return the city to residents; syndicated versions of the article said the Barcelona area drew 26 million visitors last year, up 2.4% from 2024. (ajuntament.barcelona.cat) ### Which policy tools are now under discussion across southern Europe? Balkan Insight said the main proposals now being argued over are visitor fees, restrictions on short-term rentals and limits on cruise ships. In Croatia, tourism marketing expert Edvin Jurin told the outlet that the problem is also cultural and investment-driven, saying property has become treated primarily as a real-estate asset rather than shared local space. Barcelona has already put some of those tools into an official policy pipeline. (ajuntament.barcelona.cat) The city’s tourism page says officials are finalizing a tourist-coach mobility bylaw, seeking to reduce cruise terminals with the port and maximizing tourist taxes to increase the return to residents. ### What happens next, and where will the next test come? (unitedcultures.org) Barcelona’s clearest deadline is 2028, when the city says tourist-use accommodation licences are due to be phased out under the current plan. In Croatia and other Mediterranean destinations, the next test will come with the 2026 peak season as local authorities weigh whether taxes, rental controls and cruise limits can be tightened before summer traffic intensifies. (ajuntament.barcelona.cat)