As the main tourist season winds down, cities are putting in place legislation to control overtourism and crack down on badly-behaved visitors alongside landlords who run illegal accommodation.

Valencia in eastern Spain has announced its plans to cut off electricity and water for illegal tourist accommodation in the city.

The mayor, María José Catalá, believes that the providing of too much water and electricity to short-term lets has a serious impact on permanent residents.

Local media reported that she told the State of the City Debate the existence of tourist apartments “impacts the price of rents, displaces the population,… implies the gradual disappearance of local commerce in favour of shops for tourists, and implies an imbalance in public provisions” which favours tourists over locals.

Catalá appears to be taking the situation very seriously. On behalf of the city council, she has requested the power to sanction illegal tourist apartments, and impose fines of up to €600,000 on landlords who refuse to comply with the new laws.

Records show that, under Catalá, inspections of tourist apartments have increased by 454 per cent this year alone and that police activity against illegal tourist apartments has risen from 73 reports in 2022 to 449 so far in 2024. The closure of some 278 illegal residences has already been ordered this year.

Valencia is following in the footsteps of Seville

The move comes after the council of the southern Spanish city of Seville was told it was within its rights to cut off the water supply to illegal tourist accommodation.

Before the decision was made in late August, Seville had already disconnected the supply to six apartments which were found to be illegal.

While three of the owners appealed, the judge accepted the council’s argument that the apartments were not the owners’ residences, instead taking the sides of neighbours who had complained about noise.

Seville’s council believes there are some 5,000 illegal apartments in the city, in addition to 10,000 legally licenced ones.

Officials confirmed that the water supply would only be restored once the apartments have reverted back to being regular residences.

Tourism in Seville has boomed since the end of the COVID pandemic. The city of just 700,000 people has seen an influx of around 3.5 million visitors a year, most of them choosing to stay in the small historical centre.

Valencia is also considering restrictions on cruise ships in the city

Back in Valencia, and the mayor has also suggested that the city may move to change the rules on cruise ships docking there in the future.

Saying the issue of the boats “deserves reflection” Catalá floated the idea of “limiting and reducing the arrival of mega-cruise ships”.

She announced that there are plans in the works to set up a permanent group with members of the City Council, the Port Authority and the cruise sector “to regulate cruise traffic”.

“We want to design a shared social and environmental sustainability strategy for cruises and ensure quality cruise tourism, seeking the deseasonalisation of stopovers, the distribution of the flow of cruise passengers at the destination and planning,” she said.

Catalá also indicated her team will “prioritise those ships that use Valencia as a base port, that is, those that spend the night in the city and, therefore, that generate a greater economic impact and… seek quality tourism.”

Budapest plans to ban short-term rentals

Hungary’s capital is also cracking down on overtourism, and has just announced it will be banning all short-term rentals in the city.

Budapest residents narrowly voted to ban this form of accommodation – but it won’t come into effect until 1 January 2026.

It won’t be a sweeping measure, however.

From 2026, the ban will only affect one small part of Budapest, District VI, also known as Terézváros.

Despite its relative diminutive size, the ban will likely be felt with some significance as it’s one of the most densely populated areas of the city.

54 per cent of people living there voted in the affirmative on the ban and it’s now suggested it might be just the first of such decisions to be made.

Victor Orban’s government has reportedly been keen to put bans like this in place across the country.

Many people in Hungary are unhappy over short-term lets contributing to an ongoing housing shortage as well as unaffordability for local residents.

Athens will ban some new short-term lets from 2025

Greece’s capital has also announced its plans to ban new short-term lets from 1 January 2025, although the move only seems to be temporary at the moment.

Just one day after the Budapest decision, Greece’s government has announced it will stop issuing new short-term rental licences in the first, second and third municipal districts in the centre of Athens

For now, the restriction will only remain in place for 12 months.

After that period, authorities will take a close look at whether the ban has had enough of an impact on overtourism and the local housing situation before deciding whether or not to extend it.

Previously, the government had only wanted to test out the scheme for 90 days, but it was soon decided that would not have been long enough.

Instead, the year-long trial will apply to districts where short-term lets comprise more than 5 per cent of the total housing stock and, therefore, have a noticeable impact on the lives of residents.

Authorities in Athens will also work with landlords to encourage them to be more considerate to locals and the environment.

Athens tourist tax to rise

Following a summer of natural disasters related to climate change, the local government will impose a daily tax on short-term rentals to deal with the ongoing crisis.

During the busy April to October period, the tax will increase from the current €1.5 a day to €8.

In the low season, it will go up from €0.50 to €2 per day, according to news agency Reuters.

Despite overtourism and forest fires, which have seen countless evacuations, 2024 is set to be a record year for Greece in terms of tourism revenue. It’s expected the country’s income from the sector could reach up to €22 billion by the end of the year.

Such measures haven’t affected other European tourism hotspots too negatively in the recent past.

In August, following the lead of cities like London, Dublin, Amsterdam and Paris, the Czech capital announced it’s planning to limit the amount of short-term tourist accommodation available.

Prague’s authorities are hoping that the proposed move will bring down real estate prices – and ensure residents are not forced out by tourists.

Barcelona has gone one step further still.

The popular Spanish coastal city has announced plans which, it hopes, will eliminate all tourist rentals by 2028. Reaction has been mixed there, however, among local Catalans and the city’s large foreign-born population, which has now reached a significant 25 per cent.

Japan Airlines is offering some international travellers free domestic flights to explore more of the country.

The airline’s domestic network includes services to 64 airports on 133 routes. It hopes the free flights will encourage passengers to delve deeper into regions of Japan they wouldn’t normally explore.

That includes experiences like visiting Kyoto’s 17 UNESCO World Heritage Sites or getting away from the big city in the magical landscapes of Hokkaido in the north of the country. Or in Kagoshima, known as the gateway to Japan’s southern islands, you could experience some of the country’s top outdoor adventures.

Japan Airlines says the promotion is designed to provide a “seamless travel experience” across the archipelago.

It could also help to ease overtourism in some of the country’s most popular destinations – such as Mount Fuji, which has had to introduce entry fees and daily visitor caps to reduce crowding.

Earlier this year, surveys from more than 21 million passengers in 100 countries flying with more than 350 airlines named Japan Airlines as one of the best in the world.

How to get free domestic flights with Japan Airlines

The offer means you can get complimentary domestic flights if you book an international flight into the country with the airline. To qualify, both a Japan Airlines international flight and a matching domestic flight must be booked in the same reservation.

A stopover fee applies for passengers from the US, Canada, Mexico and China if they plan to stay in their first destination for more than 24 hours before travelling on.

Currently, the offer is only open to travellers from the US, Canada, Mexico and Thailand. It will open up for visitors from Singapore on 18 September, Australia and New Zealand on 19 September, Vietnam and the Philippines on 25 September and Indonesia, India, China and Taiwan on 27 September.

Japan Airlines also says it plans to expand the list of eligible countries later in September.

The offer also has a generous baggage allowance. If you purchase a Japan Airlines domestic flight fare from outside of Japan, economy class passengers can check in up to two pieces of luggage weighing up to 23 kg.

Airline loyalty programmes are famously big business – but how much do you actually understand about how they work?

It should be a straightforward process – picking a credit card, spending at the right times and being rewarded with points to redeem for a dream trip – but it’s not always that simple.

Point.me, an airline point concierge service which assists with reward bookings, has attempted to lay bare the world’s best airline rewards programmes.

It’s released a report, ranking 62 of the world’s airlines, drawing on information released by the companies, as well as years of its own data.

The company considered a number of factors including redemption rates, ease of booking and customer service quality.

It revealed that the world’s top-ranking rewards programme is Air France and KLM’s joint Flying Blue.

It came in first place thanks to its ease of booking and the relatively low cost of redemptions, as well as the ability to book on the companies’ partner airlines, within the SkyTeam alliance.

How do airline reward schemes work?

Airline rewards or frequent flyer programmes allow passengers to collect points as they spend which can be redeemed as discounts on travel.

You might think that the majority of the points travellers earn and spend on flights come from flying – but that’s actually not the case.

While you can collect points based on distance flown by signing up to a specific airline’s programme, many carriers partner with credit card issuers to offer points on a wide range of travel-related spends.

The majority of reward points are earned through such partnerships, meaning that some airlines earn significantly more through credit card deals than they actually do by operating flights.

It isn’t just airlines who are the winners, though.

The fact that most of those points are earned through credit card programmes means that  travellers don’t have to be frequent flyers to earn points they can leverage for travel.

How were the best rewards programmes selected?

If you spend wisely – and make sure to pay your credit card off in time – the rewards can earn you serious discounts.

As with everything, though, there are downsides and, for ordinary travellers without specific knowledge, it’s often near-impossible to decipher which programme is right for you.

To make things a little simpler, Point.me looked at various criteria, including how easy it is to earn points from non-flying methods – think dining and shopping, package holidays, transfer partners and transfer bonuses.

They also examined the value it’s possible to get for those points, how easy it is to book an award flight and the frequency of award availability.

On a more complex level, there’s flexibility in routing rules to consider – that is if you can book a stopover, for example, as well as change fees and policies – and customer service quality when it comes to booking.

Here’s what they found out.

Which airlines have the best rewards programmes?

Flying Blue, the loyalty programme for Air France and the Dutch flag-carrier KLM, proved that Europe knows what it’s doing when it comes to rewarding customers.

Point.me says the programme has exceptional performance across the board, receiving top marks in nearly every category.

Recently, Flying Blue has made significant adjustments to its loyalty strategy, which has led to good redemption rates and extensive partnerships that make it easy to earn miles – even without ever boarding an Air France or KLM flight – as well as flexible routing rules that make it easy to reach destinations worldwide.

Fairly unusually, customers are able to transfer points from all of the major credit card points currencies to Flying Blue, which makes it relatively easy to amass enough points for a flight even if your spending is spread across loyalty programmes.

Following Flying Blue is Air Canada’s Aeroplan programme.

Revamped in 2020, the Canadian company offers solid availability on partner airlines as well as generous routing rules which make it easier for travellers living in non-hub cities to use its miles.

Points from most of the major credit card programmes can also be transferred to Aeroplan.

Point.me did find that there were a number of challenges with booking some flights online, including long hold times, and slightly less impressive customer service than other programmes.

United MileagePlus, the US-based programme, may have received some negative attention recently for changes that make it less lucrative for very frequent flyers to be loyal to the airline. But Point.me found that the overall structure also makes MileagePlus one of the best for non-loyal or less-frequent travellers.

Points can be transferred from a number of other loyalty programmes and it was found that MileagePlus miles are easy to earn through a host of partner and co-branded credit cards.

Point.me also added that the company has implemented dynamic award pricing in a way that can actually be beneficial to casual travellers – particularly those tied to school schedules and national holidays.

Two more European programmes made the top five

Back in Europe, two UK companies came in joint fourth place – British Airways and Virgin Atlantic.

British Airways was praised for the extensive changes to its Executive Club programme in the past year. The expansion of its ‘Reward Flight Saver’ concept to long-haul flights, which allows travellers to redeem points at attractive rates with vastly reduced fees compared to prior versions of the programme, was hailed by Point.me.

As well as offering the ability to transfer points from other programmes, the Executive Club charges separately for each ‘segment’ on an itinerary – with pricing based on the distance of each flight.

Simply put, that means it’s possible to find solid options to and from hub cities. It does fall down, however, on connecting itineraries, especially when combined with hefty carrier-driven surcharges on non-Reward Flight Saver trips.

Virgin Atlantic Flying Club has similar pros and cons.

It was found to have some of the best economy redemption rates of all programmes Point.me evaluated, as well as a commitment to making seats available for award redemptions on every flight.

While the Club also partners with a wide range of credit card reward programmes, carrier-imposed fuel surcharges are extremely high in premium cabins, which is a black mark against Virgin.

Also, Point.me found that some partner bookings need to be made over the phone – and the Flying Club website doesn’t always make it clear when this is the case.

It was praised, though, for its keenness to offer space on flights that travellers tend to be most interested in – think economy flights from New York to London and back for under 9,000 points per person each way, with availability for entire families or larger groups, as opposed to individual seats only.

Which other European airlines offer the best loyalty programmes?

While Point.me tended to focus on the benefits of the programmes for Americans, it also focussed on a wider variety of companies’ reward schemes within Europe.

As well as the aforementioned Air France / KLM’s Flying Blue, British Airways Executive Club and Virgin Atlantic Flying Club, Aer Lingus’ AerClub and Finnair Plus rounded up the top five best programmes in Europe.

Up next was Aegean Miles+Bonus, which was praised for offering expanded availability on its own airline.

Scandinavian SAS Eurobonus was found to offer availability on its partner airlines, while Miles & More, by Lufthansa Group, was discovered to have impressive ease of booking.

Iberia Plus and Tap Miles&Go both make it straightforward to redeem points on a flight booking, rounding out the top 10 in Europe.

Turkish Airlines Miles&Smiles and Air Europa Suma both scored fairly averagely on the global scale but, in Europe, came in 11th and 12th place respectively – meaning they offer a number of perks other companies can’t.