There is something almost surreal about standing in a centuries-old market, smelling wood-fired bread or sizzling street food, and realizing that the overwhelming majority of people around you are visitors, not locals. The world’s most celebrated food cities have always drawn crowds. That is part of their charm. Yet somewhere between the food tours and the Michelin stars, something changed.
Post-pandemic travel exploded. Climbing visitor numbers, spurred by post-pandemic “revenge travel,” resulted in record-high tourist totals in almost every major hotspot. Tourism has not just rebounded – it has outstripped pre-pandemic figures. The cities that suffered the most are often the most delicious ones. Here are seven of them, and what the people who actually live there think about it.
1. Barcelona, Spain – When Tapas Tourism Turns Toxic
An estimated 32 million tourists visit Barcelona each year, yet the city has a population of just 1.6 million. Think about that for a second. That ratio is staggering. Roughly twenty tourists for every single resident annually – and housing has become unaffordable for locals, with entire neighborhoods now catering exclusively to visitors rather than the people who actually live there.
Barcelona’s food scene, from its legendary seafood markets to its pintxos bars in El Born, has become a magnet for culinary tourists from all over the globe. In Barcelona, these circumstances have led to a 68% increase in rent over the past decade. The frustration has boiled over in spectacular fashion. The frustration reached a boiling point in July 2024 when residents used water pistols against tourists in coordinated protests, carrying signs reading “One more tourist, one less resident,” highlighting the housing crisis that forces locals out of their own neighborhoods.
In 2024, the city passed new legislation to eliminate all short-term tourist apartment licenses by 2028, a major move to reduce tourist saturation in residential neighborhoods. In 2025, no new licenses are being issued, and enforcement on illegal rentals has ramped up significantly. Residents are not holding their breath, though. Many feel the authentic Barcelona experience – the neighborhood bakeries, the casual local terraces – has already been replaced by tourist menus and overpriced sangria.
2. Venice, Italy – A Floating City Slowly Emptied of Its Soul
Let’s be real: Venice might be the most dramatic example of overtourism anywhere on earth. Venice is one of the worst-affected destinations from overtourism, with tourist numbers steadily rising each year. The city receives more than 35 million visitors annually, and less than a third of them stay overnight. There are just 50,000 residents, and that number is quickly dropping as rising rent prices leave many locals unable to afford a home in the city.
Locals have staged mock funerals for their dying city, and residents are leaving in droves because life there has become unbearable. The food culture of Venice – its cicchetti bars, its bacari, its fresh lagoon fish – is one of Italy’s most distinctive. Major cities such as Florence, Venice, and Naples face overcrowding, which can diminish the authenticity of food experiences, putting a strain on local infrastructure and often leading to the commodification of local culture.
In 2025, a total of 723,497 visitors paid Venice’s day-tripper fee, resulting in revenue of over €5.4 million, though the daily average number of visitors was only slightly less than the previous year. The fee hasn’t really stopped the crowds. The 2026 program now applies on 54 high-traffic days – up from 29 in 2024 – primarily targeting weekends, public holidays, and peak spring and summer travel periods. The expansion underscores officials’ efforts to manage overtourism during the busiest times of year. But for longtime residents, the additional revenue offers little consolation. As housing costs continue to climb in 2026, many locals say they are increasingly priced out of their own neighborhoods, unable to afford renting an apartment on the very streets they’ve called home for years.
3. Kyoto, Japan – Ancient Temples, Modern Chaos
Kyoto is globally famous for its kaiseki cuisine, its tofu culture, its matcha-everything food scene, and its perfectly restrained culinary traditions. It is also, honestly, one of the most overwhelmed cities on this list. According to Kyoto City officials, a combined total of more than 56 million international and domestic tourists visited the historic city in 2024. For a city of around 1.5 million residents, that is an astronomical number, making Japan’s ancient capital ground zero for overtourism in Asia.
Residents have not been quiet about it. Roughly 90% of the Kyoto residents surveyed by Japan’s Yomiuri Shimbun newspaper complained about overtourism, with one of the biggest grievances being rude or disrespectful behavior by foreign tourists who seem to treat Kyoto like a theme park rather than an old, venerable, and very spiritual city. The Gion district in Kyoto officially banned tourists from entering its private alleyways starting April 2025, following years of increasing harassment complaints from geishas.
In 2024, the city began limiting access to private streets in Gion, with clear signs and fines for trespassers, and officials also urged visitors to wander quieter areas and visit popular spots during off-peak hours. It is a bit like trying to redirect a flood with a garden hose. Approximately 73% of overnight stays in Japan are concentrated in just five prefectures – Tokyo, Osaka, Kyoto, Hokkaido, and Fukuoka – highlighting a significant geographic imbalance that shows no signs of easing.
4. Osaka, Japan – “Japan’s Kitchen” Under Pressure
If Kyoto is Japan’s cultural soul, Osaka is its stomach. The city is globally celebrated for its street food, its takoyaki, its ramen, its izakayas open until dawn. Osaka has been crowned the world’s most popular destination for 2025, thanks to a surge in travelers. Famous as “Japan’s kitchen,” Osaka is beloved for its incredible food, lively shopping districts, and exciting nightlife.
The numbers behind this are extraordinary. 2024 marked a complete recovery for Osaka with 14.58 million international visitors, exceeding 2019 figures by nearly a fifth. In the first quarter of 2025 alone, Osaka welcomed 4.17 million international visitors, averaging 46,300 visitors per day. That is a city of about 2.7 million people absorbing that kind of daily load – and it shows. In the bustling area around Osaka’s Namba hotel district, foreign tourists are often seen swarming discount shelves in supermarkets, hoarding prepared meals and canned goods – a “supermarket safari” that disrupts the daily rhythm of local life and illustrates how the tourism industry is shifting toward mass tourism rather than high-value experiences.
The overcrowding has led to serious disruptions, including ambulances being unable to navigate streets due to tourist congestion. Local communities are finding it harder to balance their daily routines with the constant presence of tourists, and the toll on the environment and cityscape is undeniable. Osaka’s governor has even considered a special entry levy targeting foreign tourists, noting that “the coexistence of foreign tourists enjoying Osaka and local residents will become an important issue in the future.”
5. Naples, Italy – Pizza Paradise Turning Into a Fried Food Frenzy
Naples is one of Europe’s most electrifying food cities. Its pizza is UNESCO-listed. Its street markets are chaotic and extraordinary. Its espresso culture is sacred. And for the past several years, the tourists have been arriving in overwhelming waves. Tourist arrivals have been increasing in Naples, up 15% from 2023 to 2024, with visitors becoming more diverse in their origins.
Here’s the thing: Naples does not have the same capacity problems as Venice. In summer, an average of three cruise liners dock in the city per day, disgorging tens of thousands of tourists into its streets. But unlike Venice or Santorini, Naples’ size can more easily digest the influx and even benefit from it. Still, the cultural cost is becoming visible. Critics describe Naples’ historic streets as being transformed into open-air “fried food shops,” filled with stalls selling almost identical snacks. More international chains are entering, and locals are increasingly asking how many pizzerias can be packed into one street.
In Naples, residents protested about the housing crisis in March 2025, citing short-term rentals as one of the causes. The academic research confirms it too. A peer-reviewed study published in ScienceDirect examined Naples and the impacts of mass tourism on its historical centre, with findings that suggest the urgent need for urban planning intervention in order to avoid the expulsion of inhabitants. The city that invented the pizza margherita deserves a future that belongs to its own people.
6. Palma de Mallorca, Spain – Feast for Tourists, Famine for Locals
Mallorca is famous across Europe for its seafood, its pa amb oli, its local wines, and its outdoor dining culture that stretches well into the night. It is also, by many measures, one of the most saturated tourist destinations on the continent. Tourism generates roughly 45% of the Balearic Islands’ GDP, underlining its economic significance. The influx of visitors, which reached a record 17.8 million in a recent year, has stretched public services to breaking point and severely impacted residents’ quality of life.
The frustration has spilled into the streets. In July 2024, 20,000 people demonstrated in Palma de Mallorca against mass tourism. Protesters gathered under banners reading “Enough saturation, the city for those who live in it” and “This isn’t tourismophobia, it’s numbers: 1,232,014 residents, 18 million tourists.” Those numbers do not lie. You don’t need to be an economist to understand what happens when a place designed for one million people tries to host nearly two decades worth of visitors every single year.
Parts of Málaga have the highest proportion of Airbnb properties in Spain according to a study in El Pais newspaper, and overcrowding and disrespectful tourist behavior have helped cause widespread outrage among residents, with locals staging mass protests through the summer of 2024. Beginning in January 2025, city authorities froze new holiday rental registrations in 43 districts for three years – a move that remains in effect in 2026. While many residents welcomed the measure as a long-overdue step toward curbing overtourism and stabilizing housing costs, others worry it may not be enough to undo years of disruption. Local food and restaurant economies, once centered on neighborhood regulars, have increasingly pivoted toward short-term visitors, fundamentally reshaping dining culture and pricing structures across the city.
7. Copenhagen, Denmark – A Smarter Approach, Still Real Problems
Copenhagen is different from the rest of this list, and I think it’s worth noting that difference honestly. The Danish capital’s New Nordic food scene, its celebrated restaurants, and its thriving food market culture have made it one of the world’s most aspirational culinary destinations. Copenhagen saw more than 12 million international overnight stays in 2023 against a population of around 600,000 residents, creating a ratio of roughly twenty tourists for every local during peak periods.
The city has not responded with protests or prohibitions. Instead, it went genuinely creative. Under the Copenpay scheme trialled in 2024, visitors who pick up litter, ride bikes instead of hiring cars, or volunteer in urban parks can claim back free ice cream, cheaper museum tickets and other perks. The scheme was considered sufficiently successful to make a return for summer 2025. It’s a bit like rewarding guests for helping clean up after the party – an approach that is novel, optimistic, and very Danish.
However, the underlying pressure remains intense, with residents increasingly concerned about the city’s transformation under tourist pressure. Overtourism drives inflation and rising living costs, increases local taxes for infrastructure, and leads to a decline in traditional jobs as tourism dominates the economy. Copenhagen’s food culture is extraordinary precisely because it is rooted in a real city with real people living genuine lives. Much of the recent backlash from locals in cities like this is because tourism is coming at the cost of a lower quality of life and spiking housing costs – with an uptick in properties dedicated to hospitality shrinking the rental market and driving home prices upward. Whether the rewards-based model can hold back that tide long-term remains, honestly, an open question.
The Bigger Picture: What It Really Costs
Looking at all seven of these cities together, a pattern becomes impossible to ignore. The World Tourism Organisation defines overtourism as “the impact of tourism on a destination that excessively and negatively affects the perceived quality of life of residents and the quality of visitor experiences.” That definition matters. It is not just residents who lose – visitors lose something too when the authentic food culture they traveled to experience is gradually replaced by a performance of itself.
According to the latest UN Tourism report, Europe saw 747 million tourist arrivals in 2024, miles ahead of the next highest region. The food cities on this list are not outliers – they are the canary in the coal mine. More arrivals do not always mean more money for local economies. Government policies and managing city capacities are ultimately what make tourism viable.
The global love affair with food travel is one of the most beautiful things about modern tourism. People cross oceans to eat a bowl of ramen, a slice of pizza, a tasting menu that took years to develop. That passion is real and it deserves respect. The question is whether the places being loved this intensely can survive the love – and whether the people who built those food cultures in the first place get to stay and enjoy them. What do you think? Should tourists bear more of the cost, or does the responsibility lie with city governments to act earlier and more decisively? Leave your thoughts in the comments below.