Why your next Spanish holiday could cost more as even TUI admits Spain is full

Europe’s biggest package holiday company has just confirmed what residents have been saying for years: Spain and Italy have run out of room. New reputation data now explains why, and reveals which parts of Spain are absorbing the backlash while quieter regions are being handed the growth instead. 

Spain is ‘quite often sold out’, says TUI’s own boss

Sebastian Ebel is not a protester, a mayor or a resident holding an anti-tourism sign. He runs TUI, Europe’s largest package holiday company, and his job depends on selling as many Spanish and Italian holidays as the market will take. Yet Ebel himself told the Wall Street Journal that Spain and Italy are now hitting the physical limits of how many tourists they can absorb. He didn’t need the interview to make the point. Speaking on TUI’s third-quarter earnings call earlier this month, Ebel described Spain as “well-booked, quite often sold out”, adding that prices across the western Mediterranean would stay high for anyone booking late this summer. 

TUI still expects to bring more than six million customers to Spain this year alone. For holidaymakers weighing up next year’s trip, the message from the top of the industry seems to indicate that the cheap, flexible booking window is shrinking, because there is simply less room left to sell.

Why record tourist numbers are not winning Spain any friends

Spain welcomed a record 97 million international visitors in 2025 and took in €135 billion, more than any year in its history. But according to LLYC, a consultancy that has tracked public opinion of Spanish tourism since 2022 by monitoring millions of social media posts, news articles and forum comments, that record year did nothing for the industry’s reputation. If anything, 2025 was the worst year yet for how Spanish tourism is seen by the public. Resentment towards the sheer volume and behaviour of tourists, known in Spain as turismofobia, was the single biggest complaint, alongside frustration with local governance and stretched infrastructure.

There has been a small improvement so far in 2026, but not enough to change the overall picture. Public opinion of tourism in Spain seems to remain more negative than positive, even as the industry keeps breaking records. 

The regions passing the reputation test, and the ones failing it

The regional picture actually shows a widening gap. Cataluña, the Comunidad Valenciana and Andalucía, three of Spain’s largest tourist economies, are currently the only regions where opinion of tourism runs more negative than positive, weighed down by gentrification, housing costs and concerns over public safety and services. Cataluña came out worst of all in 2025, with the Comunidad Valenciana and Madrid close behind.

All three have since introduced restrictions of their own. Cataluña has brought in one of Europe’s highest tourist taxes, Valencia has capped the number of tourist flats allowed in each neighbourhood, and the Balearic Islands have floated a proposal to cap annual visitor numbers at 17.8 million.

Meanwhile Asturias, Extremadura and Aragón, regions far from the crowded Mediterranean coastline that usually dominates Spain’s overtourism headlines, came out on top. LLYC said users in these regions consistently describe the experience as “unique” rather than overcrowded.

Where the tour giant is sending its growth instead

For a company built on filling planes and hotel beds, that pattern has to be taken seriously. TUI has told investors it is steering late bookers this summer towards Turkey, Cyprus and Egypt, where Ebel said there is “still a lot of capacity” and offers remain strong, after demand there dipped during the Middle East conflict. Ebel has previously said tourism only remains sustainable “when local people see it as an added value for their city or region”, and that residents, not tour operators, should decide how much tourism is welcome. 

For now, if the trend continues and numbers continue to rise, that leaves two clear options for anyone planning next year’s trip: pay early and pay a bit more for the crowded coastlines TUI itself admits are full, or follow the company’s own bookings towards alternative destinations, where both the rooms and the welcome could remain easier to find.