Meet the tourists driving residents out of their homes

Before it hits close to mid day, swarms of people spill in from cruise liners and water taxis, by train and car, to fill the hundreds of tiny bridges connecting the city of floating islands that is Venice.

Similarly, on the other side of the Mediterranean, the palm tree-lined streets and beaches of Barcelona suffer from the same fate.

The two most well-renowned cities are experiencing what is now more commonly being referred to as "over-tourism", that is, "the phenomenon of a popular destination or sight becoming overrun with tourists in an unsustainable way".

International arrivals numbers across Europe reached 671 million in 2017, which equates to over half of the world’s total number of arrivals, and 52 million more than 2016, according to the UN World Tourism Organisation (UNWTO).

Barcelona and Venice, in particular, has long been known for being tourist hotspots year-long, with yearly tourist arrival numbers dwarfing local population numbers.

The UNWTO found the number of tourist arrivals into the history-rich continent has experienced an increase in growth of a steady 8% year on year.

The number of tourists arriving into Spain has grown from 98 million arrivals in 2012 to 115 million arrivals in 2016, a massive increase of 17.6% in the span of 4 years. Italy has also seen steady growth, with tourist arrival numbers from 76 million in 2012 to 84 million in 2016, an increase of 9.5%.

Data from InsideAirbnb has found that of the two most infamous ‘tourist-ridden’ cities, Barcelona and Venice, boasting 17,221 and 7,546 listings, respectively.

For Venice, with a local population of 264,534, this equates to 28.5 Airbnb listings per 1,000 people.

In a bid to control the thousands of pedestrians ‘overrunning’ the city, the mayor of Venice has at one point implemented gates as a crowd-control measure in order to segregate tourists from locals, from certain areas. Thus, allowing only those with a 'local' pass to enter the gated area.

This has only been one of numerous measures in which Venice has taken to tackle the issue of mass tourism. In late 2017, Venice banned large cruise ships carrying thousands of tourist groups from sailing into the city.

There have been ongoing discussions about capping the number of daily visitors to avoid the daily congestion tourists bring.

In Barcelona, there have been constant outcries by anti-tourism activists and local residents against the problem of mass-tourism in their city.