World’s second most visited country shifts focus to sustainable tourism amid record arrivals
Tourists enjoy the beach at the Mediterranean Sea in Lloret de Mar, Spain, July 11, 2025. Photo by Reuters
Spain is seeking to rebalance tourism and daily life after a record influx of visitors in 2025 intensified pressure on housing and living costs for residents.
The country welcomed 96.8 million foreign tourists last year, a 3.2% increase from 2024, making it the second most visited country globally, behind France with 105 million visitors, according to figures released on Feb. 3 by the National Statistics Institute.
While the surge underscores the sector’s strong recovery, it has also fueled growing public dissatisfaction, Euro News reported.
Residents in major destinations have raised concerns about overcrowding, rising house prices, limited housing supply, and the strain on resources such as water, particularly where tourism infrastructure has expanded, Reuters reported.
Many also say higher living costs mean they can no longer afford holidays in their own resort areas.
City centers have been especially affected, as the spread of short-term rentals has reduced long-term housing availability and driven up rents, adding to tensions between locals and visitors.
Spain’s tourism ministry said in a statement the increase in visitor numbers and spending aligns with its goal of transforming the sector into a more sustainable model that prioritizes quality over quantity, aiming to reduce social and environmental pressures while maintaining economic benefits.
The “quality over quantity” approach is already evident in Spanish cities, which have moved to cap the number of licenses issued for short-term rentals, issued guidelines to visitors on meeting local etiquette expectations, and tightened rules on public behavior — including bans on smoking on beaches, according to Travel Tomorrow.
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