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A beach in Cyprus. Photo: Alamy

‘Tourist’ doesn’t have to be a dirty word: the destinations delighted to welcome record numbers of travellers

  • From Turkey to Tunisia and Australia to Iran, international arrivals help to boost economies
  • In increasingly popular countries, like Vietnam and St Lucia, it is easy to escape the hordes
While the Hong Kong tourism industry suffers its worst downturn since 2003, holiday hotspots elsewhere are bursting at the seams. Cruise ships disgorge thousands of passengers onto tiny islands and cities struggle to manage the high-season onslaught. Anti-tourism protests have spread across Europe and Airbnb gets blamed for the whole sorry mess.
Not everyone sees overtourism in a bad light, however. Some destinations are bouncing back from terrorist attacks and are delighted that record-breaking numbers of visitors are arriving. For others, the dizzying influx helps to boost misfiring economies. Take Iran. Geopolitical tensions have led to a tumbling rial, which has made the Persian Gulf nation more attractive to foreigners. During the first four months of the year, a landmark 600,000 medical tourists came to be healed, enhanced and made new again. Here are some more places in which they are hailing the holidaymaking hordes.
The central and eastern Mediter­ra­nean areas have been having a bumper summer season. Cyprus , Montenegro and Antalya(Turkey) have all had record-breaking years, as has Tunisia . The North African nation is expected to pass nine million tourists by the end of the year – quite a recovery considering its tourism industry was decimated by two terror attacks in 2015. But just as the country was enjoying a turnaround in fortunes, the collapse of global travel group Thomas Cook left Tunisian hotels owed a total of 60 million (US$66 million).

Sunseekers continue to pour in, however, so if you’re craving somewhere authentic and unspoilt, it’s worth considering the small clifftop town of Hergla, which boasts a sandy beach minus the masses, a weekly market and a handful of family-run restaurants.

Tourists ride a camel in the water off Yati Beach, in Djerba, Tunisia. Photo: Alamy

What passes for summer in the South Atlantic is expected to bring record numbers of visitors to the Falkland Islands. Almost 2,000 tourists stayed overnight in 2018/19 but that figure is likely to be beaten by the end of this season as a new weekly flight connecting the British Overseas Territory with Sao Paulo, Brazil, is due to begin on Wednesday.

Travellers to the windswept archipelago can visit the world’s southernmost Anglican cathedral and busy themselves hiking and kayaking, mountain biking and observing wildlife at close quarters. The only noisy, overcrowded beaches around here are those populated by penguins.

Despite perceptions to the contrary, Israel is generally safe to visit. It’s predicted that a record-breaking five million tourists will have visited in 2019, which suggests the rewards outweigh any risks. After checking off must-sees that include Jerusalem, Eilat, Masada and Ein Gedi, hire a bike and pedal around the Sea of Galilee.

You won’t bealone if you set out on November 16, when the 2019 Sea of Galilee bike race takes place, but at other times it shouldn’t be busy. There are beaches where you can pause for a cooling dip but don’t bother trying to walk on water – a local man beat you to it by about 2,000 years.

Switzerland has registered a record number of overnight stays this summer, which suggests the so-called currency firewall hasn’t discouraged people from visiting one of the world’s most expensive countries. Instead of heading to holiday honeypots such as Luzern or Interlaken, savvy sightseers select a small, out-of-the-way village or town to use as a base. Transport connections are excellent so you’ll never feel isolated.

Alternatively, book a stay in the undervisited Swiss capital, Bern. Domestic tourists and locals raft along the Aare River, which meanders around the enchanting medieval centre, and wonder where all the foreigners are.

Tourist boats in Ninh Binh, Vietnam. Photo: Alamy
Vietnam has just surpassed its previous best for October arrivals – helped by visitors from China and South Korea, the two countries accounting for more than half the total. For limestone karst scenery without the crowds of Halong Bay, make a beeline for the world heritage-designated town of Ninh Binh. Hire a bike and pedal past pagodas and paddy fields, then join a riverboat tour to the Trang An caves and the protected Van Long wetland reserve. You’ll encounter day-tripping groups from Hanoi but, by evening, the small Red River Delta city reverts to its sleepy self.
New South Wales, Australia’s most-visited state, continues to draw torrents of tourists, and has beaten overnight-visitor and expenditure records. Queensland’s Gold Coast also hit the highs – in the 12 months to June, deep-pocketed domestic travellers flocked to the glitter strip in their largest numbers ever.

But if the crowds get you down, make tracks for northern New South Wales, where the Tweed River meanders its way through a sublimely scenic region of rolling green hills and sugar-cane fields with Mount Warning forming a spectacular backdrop. In laid-back Murwillumbah, farmers and new-agers live side by side – shops around town sell tractors and tarot cards.

Croatia has shattered tourism records with two months of the year still to go. In July and August, space is limited on the Adriatic coast and gorgeous Dubrovnik teems with visitors, so consider hitting the sands in nearby Albania instead. The beaches of Drymades and Kakome are inviting antidotes to Croatia’s award-winning yet crowded counterparts.
The Aare River runs through Bern, in Switzerland. Photo: Shutterstock

But if you’re determined to visit Croatia, head inland to Risnjak National Park, which is situated in the most mountainous region of the country. Hiking trails and cycling paths lead through pristine country­side, climbers scale craggy karst formations and winter-sports enthusiasts test their downhill skills at the Platak ski resort.

For eight successive months this year, the Caribbean island of St Lucia welcomed record numbers of overnighting guests (as opposed to day-tripping cruise passengers). Sugar Beach, which lies beneath the matching triangular peaks known as the Pitons, rarely gets overcrowded despite being St Lucia’s most popular attraction. There’s plenty of space on Reduit Beach, in the north of the island, except on cruise-ship days. Both are blessed with the traveller’s holy trinity of frosty white sand, turquoise seas and palm trees.

A record 2.4 million tourists from a suspiciously large total of 191 countries visited Azerbaijan in the first nine months of the year. (We wonder which two of the 193 countries officially recognised by the United Nations were not represented). Most come to see Baku, where audacious architectural vanity projects costing squillions of dollars stand toe to toe with bland blocks of flats.

Beyond the world’s lowest-­lying capital city, the Caspian Sea country is short on sights. The ancient Silk Road settlement of Sheki receives its share of sightseers but this is rural Azerbaijan and tour groups taking in the summer palace and caravanserai (roadside inns) are thin on the ground.

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