When visitors become the burden: Europe’s cities and the tourism bill

Europe has made a profitable habit of selling its cities to the world. The awkward part is that the people who live in them still have to queue for the bus, pay the rent and find somewhere affordable to stay. Record visitor numbers are now pushing that contradiction into plain sight, from Barcelona and Lisbon to Amsterdam and Athens.

The pressure point is not hard to spot. Tourism brings money, but it also brings overcrowding, rising rents and a shrinking supply of affordable housing. That is the trade-off now hanging over many of Europe’s most visited urban centres, and it is not a neat one. Cities are expected to welcome the cash while somehow preserving ordinary life for the residents who keep them running.

That was the subject of a special edition of The Ring, recorded live at the Euronews Travel & Tourism Summit in Brussels on 30 September 2026. Two members of the European Parliament took part: Regina Doherty, an Irish MEP from Fine Gael and the European People’s Party, and Sérgio Gonçalves, a Portuguese Socialist MEP from Madeira. The setting was polished, as Brussels likes it; the issue underneath was less elegant.

The debate turned on a simple question that policy-makers tend to dress up in softer language: how much tourism can Europe’s cities absorb before local residents start paying the price? The answer, inconveniently, is not just a matter for hoteliers and travel operators. It reaches into housing markets, municipal budgets and the daily life of people who have no interest in being part of a visitor economy.

Barcelona, Lisbon, Amsterdam and Athens have become shorthand for the strain. Their names now appear together for a reason: they are among the places where record visitor numbers meet limited housing supply, and where the gap between economic gain and social cost keeps widening. Europe’s institutions are fond of talking about balance. The cities, less so, because they are the ones living with the consequences.

The episode was hosted by Méabh Mc Mahon, produced by Luis Albertos Altarejos and Amaia Echevarria, and edited by Vassilis Glynos. Euronews also directed viewers to the player above and invited contact via thering@euronews.com. The programme may have been a special edition, but the dilemma is anything but special: Europe’s tourism boom is colliding with a housing crisis, and the bill is landing where it usually does — on the local residents.

Written by Sandy van Dongen sandy.vandongen@alpineweekly.com