Europe’s overtourism problem has created a countertrend: a growing share of travelers actively seeking niche destinations and building trips around shoulder seasons, rail convenience, and cultural programming.
Euronews, citing a European Travel Commission report, notes 55% of travelers are looking for niche destinations and that avoiding crowds is becoming a priority.
Travel companies have followed the demand signal. Intrepid Travel’s 2026 “Not Hot List” argues that travel flows are overly concentrated—“Eighty per cent of travellers visit just 10 per cent of the world’s tourism destinations,” said Erica Kritikides, its general manager of Experiences.
The opportunity for 2026, then, is to visit places right before the calendar
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