Last verified: September 2026
Travellers are rerouting away from crowded destinations on their own, without waiting for governments to act. Skyscanner’s 2026 travel trends report, drawn from more than 22,000 travellers, found that 32% had experienced negative effects from overtourism and 34% were actively seeking quieter destinations.
That’s not a sentiment score — it’s showing up in bookings. The shift appears in patterns favouring Albania over the Amalfi Coast and Ljubljana over Prague, a market correction that fee structures did not cause but are now riding.
Why this is happening independent of policy
The standard explanation credits tourist taxes with dispersing crowds. The data doesn’t support that reading. Treating a tourist tax as a solution rather than a funding mechanism is the clearest misconception in overtourism coverage — the charges aren’t priced at a level that functions as genuine deterrence, and Venice’s own revenue data bears that out.
What’s actually moving people is experience quality and cost. When a two-week Italian trip picks up several hundred dollars in levies and you still queue for two hours at the main sight, a Balkan alternative at a third of the price starts making obvious sense.
What this means if you’re planning a trip
The “dupe” logic works best when the substitute has genuine standalone appeal, not just lower prices. Ljubljana isn’t a discount Prague — it’s a walkable capital with a compact old town and easy access to Lake Bled and the Julian Alps. Albania’s Riviera has the coastline without Amalfi’s cliffside traffic.
For Indian travellers specifically, several of these alternatives also carry lighter visa friction than the Schengen headline destinations — worth checking against current rules before you commit to an itinerary built around Rome or Barcelona.
FAQs
Are quieter destinations going to get crowded too?
Some will. Albania and Ljubljana are already absorbing displaced demand. The window on any given alternative is a few seasons, not forever.
Is shoulder season still a real option?
Yes, and it’s underused. Visiting Venice or Kyoto in November costs less, avoids peak-day entry fees, and solves most of what the dupe strategy is trying to solve.
Do tourist taxes stop overtourism?
No. They are a funding mechanism for crowd management, not a deterrent priced high enough to change booking behaviour.
