While recently lecturing at The University of Madeira on development strategies for Polish municipalities, I said that many of them are eager to grow tourism. The students replied that on their island that’s no longer the case everywhere and that most of them feel quite the opposite. Alongside the benefits, the rapid growth of tourism has brought serious problems, e.g. property prices have risen so much that for many young families even renting has become an insurmountable barrier. They don’t move out from their parents because they can’t afford it, even when working two jobs, and more and more often they’re forced to move back. The alternative is to leave the island, and the number of people compelled to choose that path is growing…

Local governments have long seen the problem and tried to curb it, but with limited results. So they’re rolling out heavier measures. For example, the Municipality of Funchal (the island’s largest tourism hub) has just banned all short-term rentals in multi-family residential buildings and suspended new registrations for other ones. What’s more, it has announced that further restrictions are coming soon. The students call this sustainable-by-force tourism and say we should be careful what we wish for….