Why short-term rental bans won’t solve overtourism in Europe

Overtourism is a growing concern for residents in Europe’s most visited cities. While economies across the region rely on tourism, many locals understandably now feel that the sheer volume of visitors to their communities is overwhelming.

Theo Yedinsky, vice president of public policy, Airbnb. Via Airbnb

But while some cities — like Barcelona — have spent more than a decade launching high-profile initiatives to ease overtourism, why do so many locals believe the problem is getting worse?

A new analysis of official data gives a clear answer: cities are failing to address the root cause of the problem. Indeed, if cities are serious about easing overtourism, they must address the overwhelming impact of hotels.

The data tells a clear story on what is driving overtourism in Europe. In 2024 a record-breaking 3 billion tourist nights were spent in hotels and other similar accommodations in European Union (EU) destinations. That’s the equivalent of 80 percent of all guest nights in the region.

As tourism in the EU recovered from Covid-19 between 2021 and 2023, total guest nights in the region’s ten most popular cities — including Amsterdam, Barcelona and Lisbon — grew by over 200 million, equivalent to 2.5x. Hotels and other similar accommodations accounted for more than 75 percent of the increase.

Across these ten EU cities, hotels and other similar accommodations accounted for five times more guest nights than Airbnb in 2023.

With the data clearly showing that hotels overwhelmingly drive overtourism in the EU, it is perhaps surprising to see city leaders authorize the creation of new hotel capacity as they restrict the rights of local families to host. Close to 40,000 hotel rooms were opened in Europe in 2024 alone. And by the end of the year, nearly 250,000 hotel rooms were either under construction or in the planning phase across Europe.

In some EU city districts — like Praha 1 in Prague and Santo Antonio in Lisbon — there are now approximately three hotel rooms per five local residents.

Via Airbnb

A stark example of the approach comes from Barcelona. When Mayor Jaume Collboni announced he was revoking short-term rental licenses to tackle overtourism, he also said the plan would support the creation of 5,000 extra hotel rooms in the city.

Barcelona’s policy of forcing guests to stay in hotels instead of with local families will not only fail to ease overtourism, it will actively make it worse. As visitor numbers continue to rise and accommodation options outside of tourist hotspots fall, tourism crowding in the city’s busy hotel districts will increase.

History has already shown this to be true. Citing overtourism concerns, Amsterdam and Barcelona both introduced restrictions on short-term rentals in 2018, driving a sharp decrease in local short-term rental numbers. Yet by 2024, total guest nights in both cities had increased significantly, growing by 2.4 million in Amsterdam and 4.8 million in Barcelona. In the post-Covid recovery period from 2021 to 2024, hotels accounted for 93 percent of the increase in guest nights in Amsterdam, and 76 percent in Barcelona. Hotel occupancy and prices subsequently soared, with prices rising by 50 percent in Amsterdam and 35 percent in Barcelona between 2019 and spring 2025.

Where Airbnb is restricted, local families and communities suffer. Almost half of hosts globally say the income they earn from hosting helps them afford their homes. And while hotel guests spend money in hotels, for every dollar guests spend on Airbnb in the EU, they spend an average of $2.50 in the local community. Across France, Germany, Italy and Spain, travel on Airbnb contributed a total of $44.6 billion to GDP and supported almost 630,000 jobs in 2024 alone.

We believe that Airbnb is part of the solution to overtourism because our platform offers a different way to travel. While hotel guests flock to the same cities year after year, the majority of guest nights on Airbnb in the EU — almost 60 percent — were spent outside of cities. Unlike hotels, Airbnb does not rely on major cities for growth. In fact, guest nights on our platform grew faster outside of cities last year. Across the ten most visited EU cities in 2024, over 260,000 Airbnb guests stayed in a neighborhood without a hotel. Airbnb stays in these communities grew by roughly 60 percent between 2022 and 2024. This signals increasing interest from Airbnb guests in locations outside of overcrowded city centers.

Airbnb wants to partner with governments at all levels on solutions to overtourism, based on clear data. We believe we are uniquely positioned to provide a more sustainable model for tourism because our 5 million hosts distribute guests and tourism proceeds across communities more evenly than hotels.

Tourism that supports hosting makes families and communities stronger. We want to work with governments on a new model for tourism and make it easier — not harder — for families to share their homes. In doing so, tourism can be more sustainable and help more families afford their homes.