Hoping to get away with less than the full monty on your next trip to Germany? Think again, say officials in the Baltic Sea city of Rostock.

Last week, the city introduced a new regulation allowing beach wardens to ban visitors who refuse to strip down in designated nudist areas.

The measure comes in response to “numerous complaints from people who felt harassed in the naturist areas,” Moritz Naumann from Rostock Tourism told CNN.

However, he emphasized that the rule is only intended to be enforced “in case of conflict.”

While banning clothes at a nudist beach might sound redundant, the decision highlights an ongoing challenge: ensuring that naturist spaces remain comfortable for those who embrace the lifestyle.

Germany’s love affair with nudism is fading

Naturism has deep roots in Germany. FKK or Freikörperkultur (Free Body Culture) dates to the late 19th century. The movement encourages adherents to cast off their clothing and participate in healthy activities to connect with the natural world, promoting a philosophy of body acceptance and harmony with nature.

For many Germans, social nudity has been seen as a normal part of life. Beaches, parks, and even hiking trails have long had designated nude areas in the country.

Today, however, the practice is fading among younger generations.

“The number of people practicing it today is decreasing,” Naumann noted, adding that Rostock has reduced its official naturist beaches from 37 to 27 zones as a result.

What’s acceptable behaviour at a nudist beach?

Anyone curious about naturism should be aware of specific rules and expectations. All body types are welcome and encouraged, but staring, taking photos, and making unsolicited comments are strictly off-limits.

And while designated beaches embrace social nudity, the practice isn’t accepted everywhere. Tourists who have disregarded these boundaries have sparked controversy not just in Germany, but also in Portugal and destinations as far afield asNamibia.

In Rostock, the 15-kilometre coastline is carefully divided into naturist, mixed-use and clothing-only beaches, ensuring that all visitors have a space where they feel comfortable.

But for those stepping onto a designated nudist beach, one rule is now clear: bare all or be prepared to leave.

Did you know that tourism accounts for 10% of the EU’s gross domestic product (GDP), according to the European Parliament? Statista also estimates that revenue for the EU-27 travel and tourism market will hit $220.1 billion (€210.3bn) in 2025.

The rebound in travel following the pandemic has driven much of the sector’s gains in the past few years.

Glenn Fogel, CEO of Booking.com says: “We have just seen such incredible desire to travel. You can actually see it, how much people want to travel because as soon as a country opened up, people would just jump to travel. So we got a big, big boost for the first few years of coming out of Covid. That desire to travel, it never ends.

“Now, of course, the question is, is it going to continue or not? And sometimes people talk about, ‘Well, prices are so high, so will people be able to travel or is there going to be a recession and people won’t have the money to travel?’”

In this episode of The Big Question, Glenn sat down with Angela Barnes to discuss the issues shaping the travel sector: sustainable tourism, overtourism and the wildest future trends.

Balancing sustainability with profitability

With an increased focus on sustainability in the travel sector, travel companies and their partners are facing more hurdles in maintaining profit margins while increasing sustainability options for consumers.

Fogel emphasises: “Sustainability is critical for the future of our industry. Our mission is to make it easier for everybody to experience the world. If the world isn’t worth experiencing, that’s not going to be good for travel.”

Rapidly changing and often overlapping regulations are also posing barriers to profitability in the travel sector, by forcing companies to invest significant time and resources in working out how to adhere to them.

EU regulations such as the Digital Markets Act (DMA) have contributed to higher costs and more cumbersome processes for European companies like Booking.com, unlike other global competitors like Google, which are far bigger and can more efficiently handle overlapping policies as well as rapid regulatory changes.

Other non-EU travel companies, often as big as Booking.com, also don’t have to adhere to EU regulations. That significantly affects Booking.com’s ability to compete with them, while also seeming to “punish” other successful European travel companies and the domestic travel sector as a whole.

Regarding those competitors, Fogel says: “They don’t have their engineers dealing with the regulations. Their engineers are creating better services for their consumers. So my thinking is: Why did we come up with this? We’re going to make things harder for the European companies to compete against the global travel industry.”

How is AI likely to change travel?

Artificial intelligence tools such as Booking.com’s AI trip planner, help travellers with more personalised itineraries, while also providing more customer support.

However, Fogel notes: “What’s more important though, in the future is a thing called agentic AI and that’s an area where the computer is doing the work for you.

So instead of you having to be typing into the browser or the app all the information and going through it, it’s doing it for you.”

Agentic AI is likely to allow the entire travel industry network, from consumer to supplier and the partners in between to coordinate through their own AI agents and plan travel solutions.

This will, unfortunately, be likely to lead to job losses, particularly in the customer service area.

Coming to the future of travel, Fogel said: “But what’s really interesting in the future is not supersonic but hypersonic. And where you actually are going into the edge of space and you’ll be able to do a trip from, say, London to Australia in a fraction of the time it takes now to do that. Now, will it happen or not? Who knows? Part of the issue is sustainability.”

He clarified that hypersonic travel is unlikely to be introduced in the next decade and that Booking.com has no investment in it currently. However, the company would be likely to add it to its inventory if and when tickets for hypersonic travel are available for sale.

Fogel also highlighted that Booking.com will not be providing private jets for ultra luxury travel, saying: “That’s not something that we do and we have no plan to do it. It’s a very, very small segment and it’s not very sustainable.”

The Big Questionis a series from Euronews Business where we sit down with industry leaders and experts to discuss some of the most important topics on today’s agenda.

Watch the video above to see the full discussion with Booking.com CEO, Glenn Fogel.

With the Oscars taking place this weekend, the real scene-stealers are not just the actors and directors. Stunning landmarks all around the world also bring their movie magic to life.

In the lead-up to the 97th Academy Awards, new research from film location experts Giggster has revealed the all-time most filmed landmarks in the US, the UK and beyond.

From the California coast and downtown London to Sydney’s soaring heights and Rome’s ancient Colosseum, these locations have lured filmmakers for more than a century, providing the backdrop for some of cinema’s most unforgettable moments.

Far from being just famous settings for the silver screen, they are also popular tourist destinations in their own right, drawing visitors eager to experience these iconic backdrops firsthand and walk in the footsteps of movie legends.

What destinations have featured in the most films?

Unsurprisingly, the world’s most filmed locations are in Hollywood’s home state.

California has appeared in more than 380,000 movies. Not all of them were set in Hollywood, either. From indie darling ‘Sideways’, which highlights the Santa Barbara wine country, to Alfred Hitchcock’s San Francisco-based thriller ‘Vertigo’, California has provided a backdrop to countless Oscar-winning or shortlisted films.

In both the US and the world, New York comes in at number two, with more than 294,000 films set in the Empire State. Most, including seminal films such as ‘Taxi Driver’ and the original ‘King Kong’, feature New York City itself – a full 273,569 of them, in fact.

Outside the US – excluding India’s Bollywood, which did not appear in the research – the UK ranks number two for filming locations. London tops the list with nearly 77,500 movies, more than triple the 22,710 filmed in Manchester, the second most popular filming destination in the UK.

Landmarks in Sydney, Paris and Italy take centre stage

The world’s most filmed landmark outside of the US and UK isn’t the Eiffel Tower or the Roman Colosseum. It’s Australia’s Sydney Opera House.

The Sydney landmark has appeared in over 160 movies. This UNESCO World Heritage Site has served as a backdrop in films ranging from romantic comedies to action-packed thrillers, including ‘Anyone But You’ and ‘Pacific Rim: Uprising’.

A close number two? That would be the Eiffel Tower, which has featured in 158 movies. Synonymous with love and adventure, this global icon can be seen in countless romantic classics, including ‘Midnight in Paris’ and ‘Amélie’.

Filmmakers are not only captivated by the Eiffel Tower, though. The Louvre Museum (ranked third with 110 films) and the Arc de Triomphe (tenth place with 73 films) further cement the French capital’s reputation as a filmmaker favourite – a sentiment shared by the 50 million annual visitors to the French capital.

But Italy boasts the highest number of most-filmed landmarks. The country counts six locations on the list, including the Colosseum – immortalised in ‘Gladiator’ – the Leaning Tower of Pisa and the ruins of Pompeii. That makes it a perfect destination for anyone looking to maximise their set-jetting potential in a single trip.

The world’s most filmed destinations

Giggster’s research features several film location surprises. For example, Madrid has appeared in the most movie scenes, excluding American and British destinations.

Perhaps thanks to its mix of historical architecture and 300-plus sunny days a year, the Spanish capital has appeared in nearly 55,000 films, including ‘The Bourne Ultimatum’ and ‘Spartacus’.

On a national scale, Argentina takes the top spot as the most filmed country, featuring in more than 112,000 movie titles. From the rugged landscapes of Patagonia to the bustling streets of Buenos Aires, its diversity has attracted the producers of films such as ‘Evita’, the Eva Perón biopic, and ‘Seven Years in Tibet’, a movie about the Dalai Lama starring Brad Pitt.

Where were 2025’s Best Picture nominees filmed?

The frontrunner, romantic-comedy ‘Anora’, largely showcases Brooklyn, including unmistakable locations such as Coney Island, but Las Vegas also features in several scenes.

‘The Brutalist’, starring Adrien Brody, was shot in Budapest and Tuscany.

Although Bob Dylan is most often associated with New York, his biopic – ‘A Complete Unknown’, starring Timothée Chalamet – was shot in neighbouring New Jersey.

‘Conclave’, a political thriller about the papal selection – and a popular dark horse for Best Picture – was shot in Rome and features a replica of the Sistine Chapel.

Planning your next trip around your favourite movie? Consider a train journey taking in Europe’s most cinematic sights.