Holidays offer an opportunity to escape and immerse yourself in different cultures, visit world-renowned landmarks and sample new cuisines. However, the experience can become far less pleasant when you’re surrounded by hundreds of fellow tourists.
Phuket stands as one of Thailand’s premier beach destinations and boasts several of the world’s finest coastlines. Kata and Karon feature amongst the planet’s best beaches.
Given its breathtaking landscape and appeal, visitors may encounter packed beaches especially during peak periods. Thailand’s Pattaya and Krabi also secured second and third positions as the world’s most overcrowded locations.
This means Thailand dominates the top 10 list with the most entries, with Greece and Turkey following behind. Heraklion in Greece claimed seventh place on the overcrowded rankings with 22 tourists per local resident.
Unsurprisingly, Venice in Italy also featured on the list with 21 tourists for every resident. Simone Venturini, the newly appointed mayor of Venice, has recently unveiled proposals to substantially increase a controversial tourist levy for visitors entering the historic city.
In 2024, Venice became the first tourist destination globally to introduce an entry fee, originally set at €5, on peak days between April and July.
Further days were subsequently added to the initiative, with the charge for last-minute visitors eventually increasing to €10, approximately £8.60.
Local authorities hoped the levy would help ease overcrowding in the ancient city and discourage visitors from arriving during peak times. This comes as roughly 30 million people each year are thought to descend upon Venice.
Mr Venturini is now advocating to increase the entry fee to as much as €50. Rhodes in Greece also featured on the list with over 20 tourists for every resident, while Miami in the US has 18 tourists to every local.
