'Do not travel' zones where tourists overwhelm locals revealed

A new overtourismmap shows the destinations where the number of visitors overwhelms locals, and the spots that welcome in very few tourists.

Vatican City tops the list as the most overcrowded destination, with a staggering 7,709 tourists per local, unsurprising for a city with a tiny resident population. Andorra follows with 117 tourists per resident, while San Marino sees 59 tourists arrive for every local.

Venicetakes the crown as the world’s most overcrowded city, hosting 392 tourists for every local, a stark reminder of the pressures facing iconic urban destination. In the US, West Virginia emerges as the most overcrowded state, seeing 42 visitors per resident annually, according to a ranking put together by Safari company Go2Africa.

With travel back in full swing, many of the world’s most popular destinations are now welcoming more visitors than ever before. An estimated 1.4 billion tourists travelled internationally in 2024, marking a near-complete recovery (99%) to pre-pandemic levels.

While the ratio of visitors to locals does not tell the complete story of a destination and its relationship with tourism, it gives a good indication of how reliant a place's economy is on tourism and how busy it's likely to feel during peak season.

Have you been impacted by overtourism? Email webtravel@reachplc.com

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Each year, travel publication Fodor's publishes its No List, which digs deeper into the issue of overtourism and the particular issues facing destinations. Many of the destinations with the highest proportions of tourists to locals are included on this year's list.

The world’s most overcrowded countries

(Ranking; Country; Number of locals; Number of tourists per year; Tourists per local)

1	Vatican City	882	6,800,000	7709.75
2	Andorra	81,938	9,600,000	117.16
3	San Marino	33,581	2,000,000	59.56
4	Bahamas	401,283	11,220,000	27.96
5	Saint Kitts and Nevis	46,843	875,085	18.68
6	Antigua and Barbuda	93,772	1,154,236	12.31
7	Bahrain	1,607,049	14,900,000	9.27
8	Monaco	38,956	340,000	8.73
9	Malta	563,443	3,563,618	6.32
10	Hong Kong	7,414,909	44,500,000	6.00
11	Iceland	393,396	2,287,341	5.81
12	Croatia	3,875,325	21,300,000	5.50
13	Barbados	282,467	1,520,740	5.38
14	Switzerland	8,921,981	42,800,000	4.80
15	Grenada	117,081	504,000	4.30

According to the study, Vatican City ranks as the most overcrowded tourist destination, with an incredible 7,709 tourists to ever resident. While this ratio is extreme, it comes with context: Vatican City, based within Rome is just 0.44 square kilometers in size and is a place of pilgrimage and cultural significance for many people around the world. Its tiny population of 882 consists mainly of clergy, diplomats, and officials, making it unlike any typical country.

Coming in second place is Andorra, which welcomed 9.6 million visitors in 2024, compared to just 81,938 locals. This gives the microstate a ratio of 117 tourists per resident. Nestled between France and Spain, Andorra is best known for its luxury ski resorts and status as a tax haven, all of which contribute to its outsized appeal.

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Many of the most overcrowded destinations are also small island nations, particularly popular among cruise travelers. These places often experience massive, short-term surges in visitors, which can strain local infrastructure and negatively impact local communities. Countries like San Marino, the Bahamas, Saint Kitts and Nevis, and Antigua and Barbuda all experience heavy cruise traffic, often receiving more visitors in a day than they have locals.

To conduct the study, Go2Africa gathered official tourism figures from national tourist boards and reports to determine the number of visitors to each country and U.S. state. These figures were then compared to the population data for the same year, allowing the team to calculate the ratio of tourists to local residents for each location.