re: Too many people are traveling, and it is ruining travel.

Rome was super busy but could find spots in the city that weren't too bad. Vatican was slammed for the museum. Colosseum was busy at first then cleared once the lines went moving. Trevi was slammed.

Didn't find Florence too busy.

Wife and I went in May.

Like others have said, going to the most popular places is going to be crowded no matter what. It's like my traffic engineering professor said: you're not in traffic; you ARE traffic.

We went to Italy last year and had a blast. Just like you, Rome and Florence. But instead of going to the popular spots that everyone mentioned online and on Google reviews, we brushed up on Italian for a few months prior and went off the beaten path. We went to espresso bars and panini shops where they spoke almost 0 English. We fumbled through enough Italian and the workers did the same in English and we had a great experience.

Try that for your next trip no matter which country it is. Stop looking up which tours to take and which places to go. Aim to make one of your days wandering around and talking to locals

My job is visitor research for tourist development in Florida. I spend most of the day tracking tourism trends.
In 2019 there was a large degree of tourism fatigue in many destinations. The worlds middle class has grown so much that 1 billion people traveled internationally. While Covid put a pause on that pent up demand and people being financially well off has caused a flood in travel the last couple years. Part of the problem as other posters have pointed out is that all these people are going to the same places. Zig when everyone is zagging is a great strategy. For instance Montana is a very popular destination right now but many of the experiences and most of the scenery they are seeking can easily be found in Idaho at a much lower price with less crowds.
Destinations that live off tourism are becoming more than usually sick of tourists. Key West residents voted in 2020 to stop accepting cruise ships at the two government controlled piers and cruise ships can only dock at the one privately owned and controlled pier now. Venice is another place that changed its cruise ship policies. Other destinations are placing limits and bans on AirB&B’s. Tourism fatigue is a real thing.

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MHO…. We’re only a year away from this no longer being an issue. The data is pretty clear that many of those traveling are going into significant credit card debt to do so. Even the airlines are expecting serious pullback which is why we’re seeing travel deals popping up left and right. They know the gig is about to be up

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In 2023 international travel completely dominated the travel market. The discounts you are seeing in the last quarter of 2023 are for domestic travel. Many big companies are trying to balance their domestic side of the ledger and they are using incentives to do it.
The idea that the consumer is running out of money is more of a political narrative than an economic reality. Banks are still saying that the average balance is higher than it was in 2019.

We’ve wanted to do the Greek islands for years but have shied away because of the reports of how crowded it’s gotten from influencers and instagram whores and whatnot. Leaning more towards Africa for the next big trip

Why is international travel surprising this year? 2 years almost in a row of no travel internationally for many people.

Even within Europe you figure it’s like the people within the US, many crazies didn’t want to leave their own states.

The noticeable increase in visitors is what surprised me. Even my friend who lives in Fieberbrunn agreed that the amount was considerably more this year. Driving on the Grossglockner was a little nerve wracking with so many bicyclists and motorcyclists.