Travel

People march during a mass demonstration against over tourism, which affects the local population with inaccessible housing, among other things, in Santa Cruz de Tenerife, Spain, April 20, 2024. (AP Photo/Miguel Velasco Almendral, file)

No, Spain isn’t banning tourists. Here’s what to know before planning a trip

Spain attracted a record/whopping 94 million tourists last year, making the Southern European nation famous for its Mediterranean coastline and historic sites one of the most visited countries on earth.

A woman directs passengers at the departure hall at the Beijing West Railway Station ahead of the Lunar New Year in Beijing on Friday, Jan. 24, 2025. (AP Photo/Aaron Favila)

China’s Lunar New Year travel rush kicks into high gear with 9 billion trips expected

Tourists sit on a public bench at Plaza Mayor in downtown Madrid, Spain, April 29, 2024. (AP Photo/Bernat Armangue, File)

Spain sets a new record with 94 million international tourists last year

Pilgrims crowd St. Peter's Square at the Vatican, Saturday, May 30, 1998, on Pentecost Day. (AP Photo/Andrew Medichini, File)

For some, the pope’s big Holy Year only aggravates housing crisis as overtourism pushes out Romans

FILE - Tourists walk by the ancient Roman Colosseum as it's reflected in a puddle, in Rome, Sept. 5, 2024. (AP Photo/Andrew Medichini, file)

A criticized Airbnb deal will let users play gladiator in Rome’s Colosseum

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Finland’s ‘winter wonderland’ city set for bumper year, as some decry uncontrolled tourism

More than 600,000 people annually visit Santa Claus Village, a winter-themed amusement park in the small town Rovaniemi in Finland. However, not everyone is happy about the onslaught of visitors that storm the town — especially during Christmas time - with some residents warning that mass tourism threatens their way of life. (AP video: James Brooks)

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Travelers are packing airports and getting a head start on the long Labor Day weekend

Philadelphia Airport gears up for the Memorial Day travel rush

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FILE - Activists gather outside Venice's Santa Lucia train station, July 13, 2024, to protest a day-tripper fee that they say has failed to dissuade visitors from arriving on peak days, as envisioned. (AP Photo/Colleen Barry, File)

Venice extends its day-tripper tax through next year to combat overtourism

Mt. Fuji is seen through a hole on a black screen installed across from a convenience store in Fujikawaguchiko town, Yamanashi prefecture, central Japan on May 24, 2024. The town that erected the huge black screen last week in an attempt to stop tourists from snapping photos of Mount Fuji and overcrowding the area has discovered holes in the screen and is working to repair them, officials said Tuesday. (Kyodo News via AP)

The screen set up to block tourist snapshots of Mount Fuji has several holes in it

FILE - A tourist takes a selfie with the Christ the Redeemer statue in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, Nov. 25, 2017. Brazil’s government has postponed until April 2025 tourist visa exemptions for citizens of the U.S., Australia, and Canada that had been scheduled to end on Wednesday, according to a decree published in the nation's official gazette. (AP Photo/Bruna Prado, File)

Brazil again extends visa exemptions for US, Canada and Australia, this time until 2025

FILE - People sunbathe on a beach in Barcelona, Spain, Sunday, March 12, 2023. Spain received a record 85.1 million international tourists in the 2023, a 19% increase from the same period last year, the country's National Statistics Institute has reported. The figure is up from 83.5 million in 2019, the year before the COVID-19 pandemic hit the travel industry worldwide. (AP Photo/Emilio Morenatti, File)

Spain’s 85.1 million foreign visitors last year set a tourism record

FILE - A mother and her daughter take a rest on the slopes at the Masik Pass ski resort in North Korea on Jan. 28, 2018. Russian tourists going on a ski trip will be the first international travelers to visit North Korea since the country's borders closed in 2020 amid the global pandemic lockdown, according to a report on the Russian state-run Tass news agency. (AP Photo/Eric Talmadge, File)

North Korea to welcome Russian tourists in February, the country’s first since the pandemic

In this photograph released on Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi's social media platform X on Jan.4, 2024, Modi, walks on a beach in Lakshadweep, India. Relationship between India and the Maldives is facing challenges after officials in the tiny island nation made derogatory remarks against Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s posts that promoted the pristine beaches of India’s Lakshadweep archipelago. (Narendra Modi's social media platform X via AP)

Modi’s beach visit to a remote Indian archipelago rakes up a storm in the Maldives

FILE - A view of the St. Mark's Square in Venice, Italy, taken on June 8, 2019. Venice authorities have rolled out a pilot program to charge day-trippers 5 euros ($5.45) apiece to enter the fragile lagoon city on peak weekends next year. The aim is to reduce crowds, encourage longer visits and improve the quality of life for residents. (AP Photo/Luca Bruno, File)

Venice rolls out day-tripper fee to try to regulate mass crowds on peak weekends

Visitors gather near a giant flower basket on display at the crowded Tiananmen Square to celebrate the 74th anniversary of the founding of the People's Republic of China, in Beijing on Thursday, Sept. 28, 2023. Tens of millions of Chinese tourists are expected to travel within their country, splurging on hotels, tours, attractions and meals in a boost to the economy during the 8-day autumn holiday period that began Friday. (AP Photo/Andy Wong)

Millions take to China’s railways, roads, air in 1st big autumn holiday since end of zero-COVID

Egypt's Tourism and Antiquities Minister Ahmed Issa speaks during an interview with the Associated Press at the Egyptian museum in Cairo, Egypt, Tuesday, Sept. 26, 2023. The country is aiming at reaching 30 million visitors by 2028, as its once-thriving tourism sector has begun to recover from the fallout of the coronavirus pandemic and the grinding war in Europe, Issa said. (AP Photo/Amr Nabil)

Egypt aims to double the number of tourists to reach 30 million by 2028, tourism minister says

Tourist-flooded Venice OKs test of fee for day-trippers on peak visitor weekends in 2024

FILE - Paul Griffiths, the CEO of Dubai Airports, attends the Dubai Air Show in Dubai, United Arab Emirates, on Nov. 15, 2021. Dubai International Airport, the world's busiest for international travel, announced Tuesday, Aug. 22, 2023, it served 41.6 million passengers in the first half of this year — exceeding figures for the same period in 2019 as travelers return to the air after the lockdowns of the coronavirus pandemic. (AP Photo/Jon Gambrell, File)

Dubai International Airport sees 41.6 million passengers in first half of year, more than in 2019

A girl rides her bike past a sign that says "Tourist Keep Out," in Lahaina, Hawaii, Thursday, Aug. 17, 2023. Long before a wildfire blasted through the island of Maui the week before, there was tension between Hawaii's longtime residents and the visitors some islanders resent for turning their beaches, mountains and communities into playgrounds. But that tension is building in the aftermath of the deadliest U.S. wildfire in more than a century. (AP Photo/Jae C. Hong)

As Maui rebuilds, residents reckon with tourism’s role in their recovery

FILE - An American Airlines plane lands at Logan International Airport, Thursday, Jan. 26, 2023, in Boston. American Airlines said Thursday, Aug. 17, 2023, that it will start flying to three new destinations in Europe next summer — Copenhagen, Naples and Nice, France. (AP Photo/Michael Dwyer, File)

Airlines are adding new routes and making a bold bet on continued strong demand for travel

FILE - A Chinese tourist in traditional Thai dress poses for a photograp at Wat Arun or the "Temple of Dawn" in Bangkok, Thailand, on Jan. 12, 2023. On Thursday, Aug. 10, 2023, China increased the number of countries that its big-spending tourists can visit by more than 70 following the lifting of its last COVID-19 travel restrictions. (AP Photo/Sakchai Lalit, File)

China expands the number of countries for travel by its big-spending tourists

FILE - People wait in a TSA line at the John F. Kennedy International Airport on June 28, 2022, in New York. Facing a shortage of air traffic controllers, the Federal Aviation Administration said Wednesday, Aug. 9, 2023, that it will let airlines continue to limit flights in the New York City area into October without penalties that they would normally face for such reductions. (AP Photo/Julia Nikhinson, File)

The FAA, lacking enough air traffic controllers, will extend limits on New York City-area flights

FILE - Tourists stand in the rotunda area of Mammoth Cave in Mammoth Cave National Park, Ky., on Aug. 3, 2011. Kentucky's tourism industry bounced back from the COVID-19 pandemic to post its best year on record in 2022, generating an economic impact of nearly $13 billion, the state said Tuesday, Aug. 8, 2023. (AP Photo/Ed Reinke, File)

Kentucky reports best year for tourism in 2022, with nearly $13 billion in economic impact

Passengers disembark from a cruise ship that has docked on June 12, 2023, in downtown Juneau, Alaska. As the Mendenhall Glacier continues to recede, tourists are flooding into Juneau. A record number of cruise ship passengers are expected this year in the city of about 30,000 people. (AP Photo/Becky Bohrer)

Crammed with tourists, Alaska’s capital wonders what will happen as its magnificent glacier recedes

FILE - Tourists visit the Acropolis hill with the 2,500-year-old Parthenon temple on the left, and the ancient Erechtheion temple on the right, in Athens, Greece, on Oct. 11, 2022. Culture Minister Lina Mendoni said Wednesday, Aug. 2, 2023, that visits to the Acropolis of Athens, Greece's most popular archaeological site, will be capped from next month at a maximum 20,000 daily with varying hourly entry limits. (AP Photo/Petros Giannakouris, File)

Greece plans hourly caps on visitors to ancient Acropolis and will let in up to 20,000 daily

A man wets his feet in the cool water of Lake Tahoe at Lake Tahoe Nevada State Park in Incline Village, Nev., Monday, July 17, 2023. Tourism officials at Lake Tahoe were surprised, and a bit standoffish, when a respected international travel guide included the iconic alpine lake straddling the California line on a list of places to stay away from this year because of the harmful ecological effects of “over-tourism.” (AP Photo/Andy Barron)

A travel guide’s warning to avoid Lake Tahoe may jolt the region into managing huge tourist crowds

Tourists practice packrafting along the Verdon Gorge in southern France, Monday, June 19, 2023. Human-caused climate change is lengthening droughts in southern France, meaning the reservoirs are increasingly drained to lower levels to maintain the power generation and water supply needed for nearby towns and cities. It's concerning those in the tourism industry, who are working out how to keep their lakeside businesses afloat. (AP Photo/Daniel Cole)

French tourism businesses are wary of customers drying up as droughts worsen

In this July 15, 2017, photo, Dwight Icenhower, right, applies makeup to Ben Portsmouth at the Images of the King: Las Vegas festival in Las Vegas. (AP Photo/John Locher)

Elvis has never left the building in Las Vegas

Hotelier Ian Schrager poses for a portrait in the Chrystie Park section of the PUBLIC hotel in New York on June 1. (AP Photo/Richard Drew)

Ian Schrager’s PUBLIC hotel opens on Manhattan’s Lower East Side

AP FOTOS: Los espacios que llenamos ahora lucen vacíos

LO ÚLTIMO: Muere diplomático británico en Hungría de 37 años

Aerolíneas piden ayuda a gobierno de EEUU por coronavirus

Pence: 21 casos de coronavirus en crucero en California

Estado de Washington reporta 1ra muerte en EEUU por virus

Hotel design trends: Lobbies and rooms with a point of view

Aerolínea alemana Eurowings cancela más de 170 vuelos

Tifón azota el centro de Filipinas y deja 28 muertos