Across the globe, tourism is facing a reset. After years of record visitor numbers, governments from Thailand to Switzerland, Italy, Japan, Portugal, the Netherlands and South Korea are tightening the rulebook with new fines, visitor caps, rental regulations and behaviour-based penalties. The aim is clear: protect local communities and fragile environments while forcing visitors to travel more responsibly. For travellers, this means that the era of carefree mass tourism is rapidly giving way to a more regulated, more expensive and more scrutinised experience.
Thailand’s New Era of Stricter Tourism Rules
Thailand, long marketed as a land of smiles and easygoing beach breaks, is in the midst of a decisive shift in how it manages visitors. Authorities are combining tougher policing of everyday infractions with targeted crackdowns on what they view as damaging forms of tourism, from unregulated cannabis use to illegal guiding and unsafe driving. Travellers arriving in 2025 and 2026 are encountering an environment where rule-breaking that once drew only a warning now carries financial and legal consequences.
On the streets and highways, traffic enforcement affecting tourists has been significantly tightened. New national rules that came into effect in mid‑2025 increased fines for common violations, including for visitors who rent cars or motorbikes in resort areas such as Phuket, Koh Samui and Pattaya. Driving without a valid licence, or without the required international driving permit, can now result in notable on-the-spot fines, and police are empowered to stop vehicles and check documentation more frequently than in the past. Seat belt and child-seat rules are now strictly enforced for every passenger, not only the driver, with per-person penalties designed to change behaviour quickly.
Behind the scenes, labour and tourism officials have launched a high-season clampdown on foreigners working as tour guides without proper permits. In late 2025, the Labour Ministry ordered nationwide inspections targeting illegal guides, who now face steep fines, deportation and multi-year bans from seeking work in Thailand. Employers hiring unlicensed guides can also be fined heavily per worker. For visitors, this means that informal guiding arrangements and “helping out” a local operator are no longer tolerated; only Thai-licensed guides are allowed to lead tours, especially in major destinations and national parks.
These measures fit into a broader government narrative that Thailand will prioritise “quality tourism” and safety over pure volume. While the country remains keen to attract visitors, authorities are signalling that the days of loosely enforced rules, especially in resort hubs, are ending. Travellers who adapt and treat Thailand less as a carefree playground and more as a country with clear standards will be best placed to enjoy a smooth trip.
Cannabis, Alcohol and Behaviour: Thailand Draws a Line
The most visible shift in Thailand’s tourist law landscape has come in the realm of cannabis and alcohol. After briefly becoming a poster child for liberal cannabis policies in Asia, with thousands of brightly lit dispensaries catering to visitors, Thailand has executed a sharp U-turn. New regulations introduced in 2025 classify cannabis flower as a controlled substance and restrict its use to tightly defined medical purposes under Thai supervision. Recreational consumption, which was widely assumed by tourists to be tolerated, is now clearly off-limits.
Under the updated rules, tourists cannot legally buy, carry or consume cannabis flower unless they have a prescription issued in Thailand by a certified practitioner, and even then only in limited quantities. Authorities are actively shutting down unlicensed weed cafes and roadside vendors that mushroomed in popular neighbourhoods of Bangkok, Chiang Mai and Phuket. Inspectors now have broad powers to seize products, check medical documentation and bring charges that can include fines and potential jail time for serious violations. Official tourism messaging explicitly tells visitors that Thailand is not a destination for recreational cannabis tourism.
Alcohol is another focus of tightening regulation. Online sales and delivery of alcoholic drinks have been banned nationwide, closing a previously popular loophole used by both locals and visitors. Time-of-day restrictions on sales are more rigorously applied, and shops near schools, temples and government buildings are under closer scrutiny. While foreign travellers may still enjoy nightlife in Bangkok or island beach bars, they are increasingly reminded to follow local rules on when and where alcohol can be purchased and consumed, particularly during religious holidays or royal events.
Together, the cannabis and alcohol measures illustrate a shift from permissiveness to precaution. Thailand’s leaders argue that unrestrained party tourism fuels social problems, strains public order and damages the country’s image. Visitors who once viewed Thailand as a place where “anything goes” now need to understand that certain behaviours, from smoking on the beach to drinking in sensitive public spaces, can bring swift punitive action.
Europe’s Visitor Caps and Behaviour Fines: Italy, Switzerland and Beyond
While Thailand retools its tourism laws, European destinations are refining their own approach to managing crowds and curbing misbehaviour. Italy, Switzerland, Portugal and the Netherlands are among a growing list of countries layering visitor caps, access fees and strict conduct rules on top of existing tourist taxes. The goal is not only to reduce the sheer number of people at fragile sites, but also to shape how those people act once they arrive.
Italy has become a laboratory for tourism regulation. In recent years, iconic locations such as Venice, Rome, Pompeii and Portofino have introduced a combination of entry charges, timed reservations and explicit bans on nuisance behaviour. Venice now levies a fee on day-trippers and is experimenting with higher charges for peak days, while also limiting large tour groups and banning loudspeakers in historic districts. Elsewhere in the country, regional and municipal rules allow authorities to fine visitors for walking in swimwear far from the beach, cliff-jumping in risky areas, or blocking narrow lanes while taking photos. The message is unambiguous: treating heritage cities as a theme park or seaside promenade as a catwalk can be costly.
Switzerland, traditionally associated with orderly tourism, is also grappling with the impact of social media fame on small communities. In Lauterbrunnen, a picturesque valley village flooded by day-trippers seeking viral photos of waterfalls and alpine meadows, local authorities have studied Venice-style entry fees for visitors arriving by car. The proposal, still under discussion, would see motorists pay a small charge to help fund waste management, parking infrastructure and crowd control. While overnight guests and train passengers would be exempt, the concept signals that even rural destinations are looking for economic levers to manage overtourism.
Across Europe, these measures are complemented by an expanding network of behaviour-based fines. From bans on eating picnics on church steps to penalties for feeding birds, camping illegally or playing loud music on beaches, the new rulebook is detailed and highly localised. Travellers accustomed to relaxed attitudes in southern Europe are discovering that municipal police can and do issue on-the-spot tickets, particularly during busy summer seasons.
Portugal, Netherlands and South Korea Tighten Rental and Conduct Rules
Portugal and the Netherlands, both heavily dependent on international tourism, are now pushing back against what residents describe as the downsides of party-focused visitation and short-term rentals. In Portuguese coastal resorts, including popular Algarve towns, new bylaws target public drunkenness, noise and inappropriate dress away from the beach. Fines for wandering around town in beachwear can be steep, and penalties for public nudity, urination or disorderly conduct are higher still. Authorities have also moved to restrict loudspeaker use and oversized portable sound systems on beaches, with some regions able to levy high fines for noise that disturbs the peace.
Parallel to behaviour controls, Portuguese policymakers are reassessing their relationship with holiday rentals. In cities like Lisbon and Porto, the proliferation of short-term lets has driven up housing costs and hollowed out historic neighbourhoods. While national rules remain in flux, local councils are increasingly using licensing caps, moratoriums on new tourist apartments and zoning rules to slow the growth of peer-to-peer rentals. Visitors may find that the number of centrally located apartments available for booking is stabilising or even shrinking, while traditional hotels and licensed guesthouses become more prominent once again.
In the Netherlands, Amsterdam stands at the forefront of tourist regulation. The city has long wrestled with the impact of stag parties, cannabis tourism and budget travellers on its compact historic centre. Authorities are now reducing the number of cruise ship calls, tightening rules on group tours and boat parties, and limiting advertising aimed specifically at young foreign party-goers. Existing restrictions on cannabis cafes and sex work in the Red Light District are being reinforced, and short-term rental rules now cap the number of nights a property can be legally let to tourists. The cumulative effect is to push the city toward a more balanced visitor economy, even at the risk of reducing overall arrivals.
South Korea, meanwhile, is focusing on both overtourism at signature attractions and on the quality of visitor behaviour. Popular destinations such as Seoul’s historic districts and the volcanic island of Jeju are deploying crowd management tools that include capped daily entries to certain sights, advance booking systems and tightened rules around drone use, littering and off-trail hiking. At the same time, local officials are signalling less tolerance for rowdy nightlife in residential areas, using noise ordinances and business-hour regulations to rein in late-night disturbances attributed in part to overseas visitors.
Japan’s Higher Tourist Tariffs and Heritage Protections
Japan, which experienced record visitor numbers as global travel rebounded, is moving from welcoming virtually all tourists to actively curating who visits, where they go and how much they pay. The historic city of Kyoto, home to delicate wooden townhouses and centuries-old geisha culture, has become the epicentre of this shift. Faced with overcrowded buses, clogged alleys and widespread complaints of disrespectful behaviour, local authorities have chosen to make tourism more expensive at the upper end and more controlled across the board.
In recent policy moves, Kyoto significantly raised its accommodation tax for stays in high-end lodgings, with the top rate multiplied to reflect the burden that luxury tourism can place on local infrastructure. Guests at expensive hotels and ryokan now pay a premium that flows directly into city coffers to fund crowd management, preservation and cleaning. Mid-range properties also saw tax increases, though at less dramatic levels. The aim is twofold: ensure that those enjoying the city’s most coveted spaces contribute more meaningfully, and nudge demand away from its most saturated quarters.
Alongside these fiscal tools, Kyoto and other Japanese cities are refining behavioural regulations. In neighbourhoods such as Gion, where geiko and maiko move between teahouses, photography of performers without permission has long been a source of tension. Allegations of tourists blocking narrow streets, grabbing kimono sleeves and chasing after geisha for selfies have led to signage campaigns, patrols and fines for harassment and trespassing on private lanes. Elsewhere in Japan, municipalities are experimenting with one-way walking routes, timed entries at popular temples and higher parking fees to disperse visitor flows.
Japan’s national and local officials emphasise that they are not turning their backs on tourism, which remains a key pillar of regional economies. Rather, they are seeking to protect heritage from irreversible wear and to maintain liveable conditions for residents. For respectful travellers willing to follow instructions and pay modest additional charges, the experience of Japan’s temples, gardens and old towns is likely to improve as pressure is spread more evenly through space and time.
Why Governments Are Getting Tough: The Overtourism Backlash
The common thread linking Thailand, Switzerland, Italy, Japan, Portugal, the Netherlands, South Korea and other destinations is a growing recognition that unmanaged tourism carries heavy costs. Years of record arrivals strained public transport, generated towering piles of rubbish, pushed up rents for locals and hollowed out historic centres. Social media supercharged this process by concentrating vast numbers of people into a small set of “must see” locations, often at the same time of day and season.
Residents in many hotspots increasingly felt like extras in someone else’s holiday, describing their home towns as theme parks where daily life was disrupted by rolling waves of visitors. Protests against rental platforms, noisy nightlife and inappropriate dress became common in European cities and Asian resort islands alike. Environmental concerns added urgency, as delicate dune systems, coral reefs and mountain trails suffered from overcrowding and careless behaviour. In response, politicians who once feared deterring tourists began to treat stricter rules not as a risk, but as a necessary correction.
Fiscal considerations also play a role. Visitor caps, entry fees and fines generate revenue that can be channelled into restoration, public transport and additional staff for heritage sites. By charging more, destinations hope to shift from high-volume, low-yield tourism to a model where fewer visitors spend more responsibly. Officials in both Europe and Asia frequently talk of attracting “quality tourists” who stay longer, respect rules and support local culture, rather than short-stay bargain hunters driven solely by cheap flights and social media trends.
For travellers, this changing landscape means that ignorance of local law is less and less of a defence. The proliferation of signs, public awareness campaigns and online advisories reflects a determination to communicate rules clearly before imposing sanctions. Those who engage with these messages and adjust their behaviour will likely find that the enhanced protections, cleaner streets and less crowded attractions make for a more enjoyable experience overall.
What These Changes Mean for Future Travellers
As more countries adopt stricter tourist laws, the practical implications for trip planning are significant. Visitors can expect higher costs in the form of entry fees, city taxes and potential surcharges on premium accommodation. They may also find that spontaneous visits to headline attractions are harder to pull off, with timed tickets, daily visitor caps and mandatory reservations becoming common at sites ranging from Italy’s ruins to Asian national parks and temples. Flexibility and advance planning will become valuable assets.
Accommodation choices may narrow in some urban centres as authorities rein in short-term rentals to protect housing for residents. This could drive greater reliance on traditional hotels, regulated guesthouses and officially licensed homestays. In beach and party destinations, nightlife zones may shrink, closing times may come earlier and noise rules may be enforced more consistently. Tourists who prefer quieter, cultural or nature-focused trips might see this as an improvement; those seeking all-night revelry will need to pay closer attention to local ordinances.
Behaviourally, the safest course is to assume that local expectations are stricter than what may have been tolerated in the past. Wearing appropriate clothing away from the beach, respecting no-photo signs, avoiding alcohol and cannabis in public areas, and following path markers and safety warnings are no longer merely polite suggestions; they can be legal requirements backed by substantial fines. Renting vehicles demands proper licensing and adherence to road rules, especially in countries like Thailand where enforcement has been strengthened.
Ultimately, the tightening of tourist laws around the world reflects a maturing relationship between destinations and the global travel industry. Communities that once welcomed any and all visitors without question are now insisting on a more balanced exchange. For responsible travellers, this new era offers an opportunity to engage more thoughtfully with places they visit, supporting local priorities and ensuring that the world’s most beautiful destinations remain worth visiting in the years to come.