The topic explores the causes, impacts and possible responses to unbalanced tourism growth in Europe, often described as overtourism. Drawing on the monthly article “Unbalanced Tourism Growth in Europe: Understanding Pressures, Impacts and Sustainable Pathways”, the hybrid event “Unbalanced Rollercoaster: EU Tourism tolls for a Smoother Ride”, along with the online discussion ”Unbalanced Tourism Growth in Europe: Understanding pressures, impacts and sustainable pathways” in May 2025, the objective was to examine how decades of volume-driven tourism development, combined with insufficient regulation, governance gaps and strong seasonality, have led to excessive pressure in popular urban, coastal and heritage destinations

Key themes included: 

• The root causes of unbalanced tourism, including demand concentration, STRs, transport accessibility, seasonality and governance limitations 
• The social, environmental and economic impacts on destinations and host communities
• The importance of monitoring and indicators to detect tourism pressure and early warning signals
• Policy tools and destination management practices to better distribute tourism flows geographically and seasonally 
• The role of local authorities, DMOs and communities in shaping more resilient and inclusive tourism models 

The initiatives showcased illustrate that management of unbalanced tourism requires coordinated, data-driven and place-based action to spread visitor flows more evenly, reduce pressure on destinations and better protect residents’ quality of life, including:

• HECTOR, Hellenic Police & EU’s Internal Security Fund: project enhancing protection of touristic sites in Europe, as an example of proactive engagement and managing visitor experiences. 
• New EU strategy on sustainable tourism – “Tourism Balance Regulation”: stresses the importance of finding a balanced approach to tourism development across European destinations. Enhanced connectivity as a crucial driver of sustainable tourism and regional development. 
• Tourism in Balance, European Alliance of Balanced Urban Tourism (EABUT): Interreg Europe-funded project supporting cities with evidence, peer-learning and advocacy on sustainable urban tourism policies, while addressing the issue of overtourism and promoting sustainable, resident-friendly tourism places. 
• “Respect the City” - Dubrovnik’s cruise ship management and TUI Care Foundation’s local integration programmes: multidisciplinary strategic destination management project with an action plan to create urgent and systematic action based on sustainable models of development and tourism. 
• “Julia”, Rome’s AI-powered virtual tourist assistant, Ministero del Turismo: a strategic response to managing tourism flows and promoting lesser-known areas of the city. Positioned as a means of ensuring data accuracy and supporting local stakeholders. 

Stakeholder stories highlight a shift towards more balanced, data informed and collaborative tourism management approaches that respond to local realities and long-term sustainability goals.

Key conclusions and emerging trends include:

• Place-based and differentiated solutions are essential, as impacts and carrying capacities vary significantly between urban, rural, coastal, island and mountain destinations. 
• Better data and monitoring tools are increasingly recognized as critical to inform evidence-based policy, early warning systems and adaptive destination management and a shift from volume-based to value-based tourism
• Demand redistribution-strategies – such as promoting off-season travel, diversifying tourism offers and encouraging lesser-known destinations – are gaining traction in Europe. 
• Collaboration is the key: governance at local and global level, with all stakeholders, in a holistic approach
• Resident sentiment is emerging as a critical metric for sustainable tourism, with several cities and countries integrating it into policy frameworks and monitoring tools.