Protests against mass tourism have regularly been in the news all summer as locals in popular tourist resorts have hit back at the impact the industry is having.

Locals in places such as Barcelona, Majorca and Venice have blamed mass tourism for an increase in anti-social behaviour, unaffordable house prices and overpopulated leisure facilities.

There are fears that the effects of climate change, which has seen large parts of southern Europe engulfed in wildfires this summer, could see tourists in the future head to cooler climates, bringing the impacts associated with mass tourism to places like Wales.

The impact is already being felt, with a report by a European commission study showing that a rise in temperatures of just 3-4 degrees could lead to tourism figures rising by nearly a fifth.

Tourism is an important industry for the Welsh economy with Welsh politician Tom Giffard claiming that it employs one in seven people in the country.

Whilst small, gradual increases would be welcomed, a sudden, dramatic influx could have negative consequences.

Linda Osti, a senior lecturer in tourism management at Bangor University told the BBC that the key to avoiding conflict with locals is to find solutions which benefit both people living in areas and the people visiting them.

She said: “”There is no sustainable or regenerative tourism without host communities,” she added.

“We need to create co-operation and make sure that tourism is profiting every member of the community.”

Wales tourism industry is on the rise, with statistics from Visit Wales showing that the country welcomed 892,000 international visitors last year, a 30 percent increase from 2022 but still below pre-pandemic levels.

The figures show that the tourists from the USA, Germany and France account for around a third of all international visitors.

There is plenty to attract visitors from across the world, with stunning beaches complemented by landscape of the Brecon Beacons and villages made famous by TV series such as Game of Thrones.

But whilst tourism can provide a boost to the local economy, Welsh ministers will be cautious about the consequences of mass tourism currently being felt by some across the continent.

The current average house price in the country is £214,174, a figure that has risen nearly 5% in a year according to figures by HM Land Registry.

Plans to offset the impacts are already being put in place with he Labour run Welsh government announcing this year plans to introduce a visitor levy to empower local authorities to tax visitors should they see the need to.

The plans have been criticised, with Welsh Conservative Tom Giffard claiming that the “anti-tourism agenda is putting the industry and those jobs at risk.”

Giffard said: “I’ve said it a million times, one in seven Welsh people are employed by the tourism and hospitality sector and a tax on tourism is a tax on jobs.

“We have seen in Venice that a tourism tax was introduced there to actively reduce the number of tourists and I hope we are not going to be following suit.”