What should you do if you’re not welcome on vacation?

Illustration by Dustin Elliott (generated by AI)

Chloe Bennet says she felt unwelcome when she visited Venice recently. And she had a decision to make.

“It was a combination of the high visitor taxes, signage prohibiting certain actions, such as sitting on steps or eating outdoors, and critical looks when I used English,” says Bennet, an editor who works for an academic publisher based in Tampa. “The unspoken message was: My presence wasn’t welcome.”

Bennet didn’t know what to do. And it turns out that a lot of visitors may be in a similar situation this summer. The most popular tourist attractions will be more crowded than ever, experts say. In fact, the Louvre — the world’s most visited museum — shut down earlier this month after its staff went on strike, with employees protesting unmanageable crowds brought about by mass tourism and chronic understaffing. Meanwhile, across southern Europe, there have been coordinated anti-tourism protests in Venice, Barcelona, and Lisbon.

“Popular destinations have a love-hate relationship with tourists, especially this summer,” explains Susan Sherren, who runs the travel design company Couture Trips. “They can’t live without tourists funding their economy. But at the same time, local affordability concerns and overcrowding have skyrocketed, making the locals quite upset. I really can’t blame them and would not…