- Amsterdam is increasing hotel taxes by 1 percentile point (Amsterdam already has among the highest hotel taxes in Europe).
- Schiphol Airport is also reducing the total number of allowed flights by about 27 per day while banning takeoffs and landings between roughly 12am and 6am.
- Florence, Italy is banning short term (AirBnb, Vrbo-type) rentals in the central city, while another area has set up “no selfie” zones, enforceable with fines.
- Venice is charging an entrance fee of 3 to 10 Euros per person. I understand, from other stories, that during peak of summer, the streets/sidewalks are solidly packed with tourists. Cruise ships are now banned in Venice.
- Others, such as in Spain, are proposing taxes on tourists, limiting the number of tourists in some areas, and/or requiring advance reservations.
- That is also true for many parks.
- A popular road on the Amalfi cost in Italy is limited use of the roadway to odd or even days based on the vehicle license plate number.
- Several port cities have restricted, banned or announced future restrictions on cruise ships.
- Barcelona has banned construction of new hotels in the city center, and also bans replacing existing hotels updated construction.
Fed Up With Tourists, European Hotspots Impose Bans, Fines And Traps! (forbes.com)
This is not new, either – there were news stories on these issues in 2018.
Having not traveled until late in life, we have resigned ourselves to not ever visiting Europe in the summer, unfortunately. We were too late – and why today I strongly advocate against postponing life to a future that may no longer exist. Live your life for today. Don’t wait until tomorrow or next year.