Malta named as ninth most overcrowded tourist destination worldwide, New York Post reports

Malta has been ranked as the ninth most overcrowded tourist destination in the world.

This ranking was devised by Go2Africa and shared by the New York Post. Countries that made this Top 15 list were referred to as “overcrowded” destinations whose overtourism is having growing impacts on their local infrastructure and communities.

The Maltese islands ranked ninth in this list formulaically. In this study, every country had its total number of annual visitors compared with its population data. Malta made the global top 15 through 2024’s data when calculating how many visitors came to Malta during last year for every local.

In this article, the New York Post stated that these figures highlight a global trend: that “picturesque destinations are feeling the strain of overtourism.”

“As travel rebounds worldwide, congestion of tourists raises questions about sustainability, local impact and the delicate balance between welcome and overwhelm,” the New York Post wrote.

Last year, Malta had a registered population of 563,443 people and recorded receiving just over 3.5 million inbound tourists. This equates to 6.32 tourists per resident.

Malta last year only trailed Monaco, Bahrain, Antigua and Barbuda, Saint Kitts and Nevis, Bahamas, San Marino, Andorra, and Vatican City. The Vatican City topped the list by a mile, as the Catholic centre of the world received 6.8 million tourists in spite of its population of just 882 people.

The New York Post wrote that these figures “reveal the need for sustainable tourism strategies to preserve these special places for generations to come” and “highlight the growing impact of tourism not just on infrastructure, but also on local communities.”

The full study, published by Go2Africa, offered some “quiet alternatives” people may consider visiting instead of any of the “overcrowded” places that made the list. Readers were advised to consider visiting Mauritius over Malta, with the African island being described as delivering “the same cultural complexity in a more lush, spacious, and resort-driven environment.”

Following Malta in this top 15 were Hong Kong, Iceland, Croatia, Barbados, Switzerland, and Grenada.