AI Could Help Reduce Tourist Crowds, But Are Destinations Ready?

As the holiday season approaches, plans, bookings, and programs are already underway. People are already deciding which Christmas market to visit, where to celebrate New Year’s Eve, and which slopes to ski on. At this moment, when decisions are still being made, what people see on their screens, especially on their smartphones, plays a crucial role. European cities every winter witness almost identical scenes. Visitors flock to Christmas markets in Vienna, Strasbourg, or Prague, waiting in line for hours under the same twinkling installations, while the Austrian town of Hallstatt, which has become a symbol of winter postcards, is so overcrowded with tourist buses that locals have taken to protesting. The same mechanism is visible at ski resorts, where a few viral resorts during holidays turn into endless queues on chairlifts, while smaller ski resorts nearby remain half-empty. Croatia is familiar with this phenomenon. Zagreb’s Advent, after being declared the best Christmas market in Europe for several years in a row, has become one of the most recognizable winter brands in the region, but also an example of how visibility on social media can concentrate tens of thousands of people on a few squares in the city center. Meanwhile, smaller Advent programs in neighborhoods, nearby towns, and other continental Croatian cities remain almost invisible. The reason is the same as in the summer. Social media reward mass engagement, so the more people watch and share a short video from a particular market, ski resort, or New Year’s concert, the stronger the algorithm pushes it to other users. The result is a winter version of the algorithmic herd – the same scenes, the same squares, the same slopes, but instead of a festive atmosphere, crowds, waiting, and rising prices from day to day.