Mid-summer in the northern hemisphere is traditionally a time for trivial news stories to entertain us as we take a bit of a break from the ‘real’ world – the so-called ‘silly season’. Because a lot of us are on holiday, much of the content also focusses on tourism. Journalists suddenly call tourism and leisure academics asking questions like ‘why do people go on holiday?’ or ‘what is the optimal amount of time to be on holiday?’ or ‘what is the size of the stag and hen party

Yet more discussion about the wisdom and folly of tourism taxes. This time the debate in the Netherlands was kicked-off with an announcement from the Municipality of Amsterdam that it wants to levy “the highest tourist tax in the world” by 2031. Well, almost. The Sustainable Development Fee levied in Bhutan is currently $100 per person per night – comfortably above the Amsterdam proposed level of around €25 per person. If we discount the tiny Kingdom of Bhutan, however, and o

In a recent paper published as part of the Crocus Project we highlighted the changing rhetoric about borders in Europe. In the light of subsequent events in Ceuta and the use of these to inflame populist sentiments about migration, it seems that the dangers we flagged up regarding ‘re-bordering’ in Europe are becoming all too real. After a long period of de-bordering following the Schengen agreement 40 years ago, there are now growing signs of European re-bordering in respons

In recent years there have been increasing reports of a dramatic growth in solo travel. The American Express 2024 Global Travel Trends Report identified solo travel as “a major trend among young travellers, with 76% of Millennials and Gen-Z planning solo trips this year.” The Forbes Travel Trends Report 2025 also reported an increase: "Many more of us are jetting off on adventures alone. It could be a consequence of the pandemic, when many people became used to their own com

The Dutch city of Den Bosch has just announced it will be forbidding celebrations on the Thursday before Carnival weekend. Cancelling the unofficial start of Carnival is the Municipality’s reaction to increasing unrest about overcrowding and negative impacts for residents, which has increased since the Covid pandemic. The overcrowding noted in a number of Dutch cities since the pandemic is probably a reaction to the restrictions placed on Carnival and other events during Covi

As the Crocus Project deals with cross-border cultural and creative tourism, we were intrigued by a recent letter to the Guardian newspaper headed: “On the gravy trail: cross-border food links.” This turned out to be a British reader who was inspired by an article on the “Chickpea trail” to write about the origins of “the classic Danish version of a hamburger” – the bøfsandwich. Prize-winning bøfsandwich This version of a steak sandwich contains a cooked ground beef patty pl

Barcelona’s tourism economy is already significant, contributing almost 13% of the city’s Gross Domestic Product (GDP), according to the Barcelona Chamber of Commerce. Much of this income is attributable to the pulling power of Catalan architect Gaudí and his iconic structures such as the Sagrada Familia cathedral and La Pedrera. Street closures for the Pope As we reported recently, the Pope will be in town this week to celebrate the topping off of the highest tower of the Sa

The coalition agreement for the new Municipal government in Amsterdam has set out plans to‘fight overtourism’. The basic weapon to be employed is raising the tourist tax, already the highest in the world, to dizzying new heights. The tax on tourist accommodation will be increased from the current 12.5% of the room rate to 16% in 2027, and then by a further 1% every year until it reaches 20%, ‘so that visitors contribute more to the city’. Other measures to try and curtail the

Barcelona is a city facing enormous tourism pressure. This has encouraged a series of measures to control tourism, including restricting Airbnb (due to be banned completely by 2028), increasing the tourism tax and banning pub crawls. In common with cities like Amsterdam, Barcelona is trying to adopt a placemaking approach to tourism, rather than place marketing. Tourism policy is orientating towards improving the quality of life for residents, rather than attracting more and

As we reported in previous posts, festivals and events are under increasing pressure from rising costs, lack of volunteers, pressures on space and increased regulation. A recent report by the Dutch news service NOS has outlined the problems for community events across the country. A major issue is the increased bureaucracy attached to even the smallest events. There are a growing number of rules related to event permits, safety and first aid, training and traffic management.

Looking at the development of the wine drinking market, one might be forgiven for thinking there isn’t much of a future for wine tourism. Globally, wine consumption and production volumes continue to fall, with a 4% decline in the US wine market in 2024. But help is at hand. Wineries are reacting to this challenging market by diversifying, and wine tourism is one of the major growth areas. A recent report by Roberta Garibaldi shows that in 2026, around 18 million Italians wil

The latest EasyJet in-flight magazine has an article about Lisbon as “Capital of Cool”. It praises the “friendly neighbourhoods where fado fills the streets and independent shops and bars thrive.” It is certainly true that there is plenty of fado music these days. A recent article by Iñigo Sánchez-Fuarros , Daniel Malet Calvo , Daniel Paiva & Jordi Nofre in Tourism Geographies shows that in the central neighbourhood of Alfama, fado venues increased 9-fold between 2012 and 2

Walking through the Eixample in the centre of Barcelona one encounters an interesting exercise in bottom-up critique of urban speculation and touristification. A series of posters erected at the bottom of Passeig Sant Joan by the Associació de Veïns i Veïnes de la Dreta de Eixample - (Residents Association of the Right of the Eixample) provides a stark example of the effects of speculation and tourist pressure in the centre of Barcelona. Density of tourist beds in the Eixam

When an email from Tripadvisor popped into our inbox headed “Psst… Our Trendcast knows where you should go next” that rang a bell. A while ago, Wendy Morrill and I wrote a blog piece on “the intention economy”, which outlined how consumer desires and motivations as the drivers of tourism demand. The growth of AI, and algorithms able to predict our wants, the ‘intention economy’ means that companies can know what we want and where we might travel, before we do. Creative touri

Just in time for Carnival 2026, our latest article about "Experiencing Carnival in Brazil: participation, motivations and outcomes" analyses the experience of Carnival Goers in Brazil in the post-Covid era. This is the fruit of a longitudinal research project on Carnival supported by ATLAS , and initiated by Lenia Marques over a decade ago. Over the last three years we surveyed over 1500 Carnival participants to find out how they experienced Carnival and and how this varied b

It was a great pleasure to attend the Citymakers’ Day organised by Breda Marketing recently. This brought together around 140 participants from the public and private sector, from voluntary and cultural organisations and other actors involved in culture, placemaking and events. My presentation dealt with the contribution of events to the city, and the ways in which the city can support events. All too often events are seen purely as a means of attracting visitors and generat

The accommodation sector in the Netherlands is trying to come to terms with the effects of an increase in Value Added Tax (BTW) from 9% to 21%. The impact of this change is even sharper because neighbouring Germany (7%) and Belgium (6%) have kept their tax rates for hotels at a low level. Estimates of the impact of the tax increase suggest an increase in hotel prices of over 8%, leading to decreased demand, and an 8% drop in turnover for hotels. There are already early sign

More than a year ago we charted the rise of immersive exhibitions around the world, noting that: It is almost impossible these days to visit a major city without seeing at least one immersive exhibition by Dali, Van Gogh or Picasso. The Van Gogh Immersive Experience in Shoreditch, London, features two-storey projections of his greatest works with ‘ethereal soundscapes’ to accompany your journey. It seems that the growth in immersive exhibitions is now beginning to have an

A new article published in The Conversation analyses the demand for creative tourism in South Africa. Gijsbert Hoogendoorn, Anneli Douglas and Greg Richards report that Millennials (born between 1981 and 1996) are increasingly taking part in creative skill building experiences such as cooking classes in traditional African cuisine in townships like Soweto and Langa, or painting workshops in small towns like Villiersdorp in the Western Cape. Street creativity in Johannesburg

December 11th marks 40 years since the launch of the campaign ‘Barcelona, posa’t guapa’ (Barcelona, make yourself beautiful). This urban renovation programme coincided with the preparations for the 1992 Olympic Games, the event that propelled the city onto the world stage. At that point, the writer Manuel Vázquez Montalbán recalled that the city was like “a sunken Titanic”. (in Ferrer Viana, 2001: 16)17. The Barcelona, posa’t guapa campaign had two main elements: renovating