Might be best to put that Lanzarote trip on the backburner
A beach in Playa Blanca, Lanzarote(Image: Franz Marc Frei/Getty Images)
An extremely popular holiday hotspot is listed among several destinations that a travel magazine is warning Irish tourists to avoid next year.
Travel magazine Fodor’s Travel have released its annual ‘No List’ to guide travellers trying to find the best spots for holidays in 2026. It includes eight locations from around the world – including the Canary Islands, which are particularly popular for Rebel holidaymakers. Stats from Cork Airport have previously shown that their Lanzarote route is one of their busiest.
The No List, was created to highlight destinations where tourism is placing unsustainable pressures on the land and local communities. The magazine explained, its purpose is to give “a gentle nudge to ease up on a spot for now – not forever – and give a rest to any location that clearly needs a breather.” Their advice to avoid the Canary Islands stems from continued tensions between local residents and tourists, with major protests taking place across the main resorts due to frustrations around tourism.
Earlier this year, tourists caught in the middle of protests said they felt like they were “trapped in their hotel rooms” as large-scale demonstrations took place across all seven islands.
Aerial view of people at Papagayo beach in Lanzarote(Image: Getty Images)
“Residents have started protesting because they’re genuinely fed up,” John Dale Buckley of CanaryGreen told Fodor’s Travels. “Traffic is one of the biggest issues. What used to be a 40-minute drive from the north can now take well over an hour each way. The government [also] previously changed regulations that allowed residents to rent out their properties on Airbnb and Booking.com. This has driven up both rental prices and property values. Many young people now find it almost impossible to rent or buy a home.”
Joining the Canaries on the list were Mexico City, due to similar concerns around protests over tourism. Glacier National Park in Montana in the US was also on the no-go list, amid concerns over the melting glaciers as a result of increasing visitor numbers.
While a quiet coastal town, outside Rome, Isola Sacra, joins the list, as residents fear the coastline will be ‘overturned by piers and docks, hotels and new commercial buildings.’
Amazingly, Antarctica is also a location at risk of overtourism, with the number of tourists heading to the bottom of the globe in their droves. Over 120,000 tourists are said to have visited Antarctica from 2023 to 2024, with that number expected to double by 2033.
Fodor’s full 2026 ‘No List’ is listed below:
- The Canary Islands
- Antarctica
- Mexico City, Mexico
- Mombasa, Kenya
- Montmartre, Paris
- The Jungfrau Region, Switzerland
- Isola Sacara, Italy