Alex Trelinski
THREE popular Spanish holiday areas have been put on a list of ‘forbidden destinations’ by a prestigious travel guide due to tourist saturation.
Fodors 2025 ‘forbidden’ list includes Mallorca, Barcelona, and the Canary Islands.
Venice, Tokyo, and Bali are also featured by the guide’s editors.
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Mallorca had previously been included on the list in 2019 before the Covid-19 pandemic.
The island is described as a destination of ‘unsustainable popularity’.
All of the Spanish locations have been described as ‘coveted tourist spots which are collapsing under the weight of their own prominence”,
“Governments tend to prioritise visitor experiences over the well-being of local residents,” said Fodors.
“Touring cities full of tourists is frustrating; Sightseeing in villages where locals resent your presence is disturbing and wandering through nature plagued by garbage is depressing,” the editors added.
“The destinations on the list of ‘forbidden’ places deserve the fame and adoration they receive and they are worthy of thei time and money,” the guide acknowledges.
The Fodors editors however warn that visiting these places ‘rarely results in happy travellers’, due to tourist saturation.
All three Spanish black-listed areas saw massive protests against saturation last year.
Barcelona’s mayor Jaume Collboni announced that tourist flats will be outlawed by November 2028 in an attempt to relieve the city’s housing crisis which has seen rental prices surge by over 70% in just a decade.
Protestors had argued that short-term rentals, such as tourist apartments offered by Airbnb, take up valuable housing stock and drive up prices, forcing many locals to leave the city centre for the suburbs or nearby towns.
