On October 31, the UN celebrates international day for cities. To highlight the day and support for this year’s theme ‘Innovative Governance, Open Cities’, TravelBird has published a survey exploring the impact of mass tourism on international cities and their inhabitants.

Tourism plays a key role in virtually all cities’ economies, as it employs more people than any other industry in the world. But as highlighted by several media during the summer, this mass tourism influences the soul of the communities and the visitors’ experience of them. As a travel provider, we believe that it is our job to promote responsible travel and sustainable tourism. The study was carried out primarily in order to illuminate the cities that make an impressive effort to welcome the tourists in a responsible manner and then to start a dialogue about “mass tourism” and its impact on residents and communities.

In compiling this list, we started analyzing the 500 most popular tourist destinations worldwide obtained from the UNWTO (World Tourism Organization), investigating factors that make visitors feel welcome – such as arrival at the country (airports, train stations, etc.). ), the happiness of the inhabitants, the inclination to accommodate tourists in their own homes as well as the English proficiency of the population. In addition, we performed a further poll among more than 15,000 travel journalists