From golden beaches in India to luxury resorts in Cyprus, several once-thriving tourist destinations around the world have experienced dramatic declines in international attention.
Whether due to political turmoil, rising costs, environmental degradation or shifts in traveler preferences, these locations—once the darlings of global travel itineraries—have largely been forgotten by the foreign tourists who helped make them famous, according to experts who spoke to Newsweek.
Here, we take a closer look at some once-popular tourist destinations that have been overlooked in recent years.
Goa, India
“If you’d asked me 10 or 15 years ago, I’d have said Goa was the ultimate hotspot for foreign tourists in India,” wildlife photographer Sanjay Nair, who is the co-founder of Safari Lab, a boutique travel company, told Newsweek.
Nair notes that back in 2013, Goa, located on the southwest coast of India, had over 513,000 international arrivals, according to Ministry of Tourism data. By 2019, it had nearly doubled—close to 937,000 foreign tourists walking those beaches, dancing at those legendary parties, or soaking in the old Portuguese charm.”
However, that picture has changed today, with the number of foreign tourists having dropped to about 452,000, “that’s more than a 50 percent decline in less than four years,” Nair said.
“What made Goa such a magnet? I think it was that mix—the chilled-out vibe, cheap booze, open beaches, the backpacker culture, plus a touch of European history,” he explained.
According to Nair, several factors have driven the shift, such as rising prices. He also pointed to a change in atmosphere.
“Those hippie beaches got crowded, commercialized. Beach parties faced crackdowns, beach shacks faced stricter rules. And of course, COVID really hit hard—many of those small hostels and boutique stays never reopened, or pivoted to cater to Indian tourists instead,” he said. “Do I think it’s abandoned? Not at all. But I’d say it’s forgotten by the original audience who made it famous internationally. You don’t hear backpackers in Europe raving about Goa anymore—they’re talking about Sri Lanka, Vietnam, or Thailand.”
Old Bagan, Myanmar
Old Bagan, a settlement within the UNESCO-designated ancient city of Bagan in the central part of Myanmar, is “one of the most spectacular archaeological sites in the world,” Lael Kassis, head of tour development at EF Go Ahead Tours, told Newsweek.
“Once a crown jewel on southeast Asian travel itineraries, Old Bagan in Myanmar exemplifies how political instability can devastate tourism. This archaeological wonder, with over 2,000 Buddhist temples and stupas spanning 26 square miles, once rivaled Cambodia’s Angkor Wat in both splendor and visitor numbers,” he said.
In 2019, Myanmar welcomed 4.36 million international tourists, with Old Bagan being a primary attraction drawing around 500,000 visitors annually. However, the February 2021 military coup and subsequent civil war, has seen tourism collapse significantly and Old Bagan now receives fewer than 5,000 international visitors per year, according to Kassis.
Salton Sea, California
Located in southern California, the Salton Sea is the state’s largest inland lake.
“I first heard of the Salton Sea while RVing near Coachella Valley in Southern California. It was indeed once a prominent tourist destination,” Maddi Bourgerie, a travel expert at RVshare, told Newsweek. “The Salton Sea itself was accidentally created in 1905 when the Colorado River breached an irrigation canal, flooding the dry Salton Sink and forming the lake that exists today.”
From the 1920s through the 1960s, the Salton Sea rapidly developed into a popular resort area,” Bourgerie said, noting that by around the 1960s, it drew over 1.5 million visitors annually at its peak—more than Yosemite National Park at the time.
“By the 1970s, environmental issues began to take a toll,” she explained. “Agricultural runoff increased the lake’s salinity and introduced toxins, leading to massive die-offs of fish and birds. The receding shoreline exposed contaminated seabed, causing dust storms and health hazards. As conditions worsened, tourism declined sharply, businesses closed, and many residents left, turning once-thriving communities into near ghost towns.”
Atlantic City, New Jersey
“Atlantic City was once a thriving tourist destination, with the destination’s heyday stretching back to the 1920s and even earlier,” Kanika Puri, chief customer officer at Fast Cover Travel Insurance, told Newsweek. “With huge numbers of visitors drawn to the city due to the world-famous Atlantic City boardwalk and its incredible oceanfront location, it served as an idyllic getaway filled with sun and shopping.”
Atlantic City, located in southern New Jersey, also became renowned for its entertainment scene, with bustling nightclubs proving popular with musicians and audiences alike. It later was also the only place outside Nevada where gambling was legal in the United States, giving visitors another reason to visit, she noted.
Atlantic City has experienced “a sharp downturn in recent times,” Puri said, with the creation of the casino industries in neighboring states having had a massive impact.
“The city has also struggled to address high crime rates and other social challenges, causing tourists to look elsewhere when planning a vacation,” she added.
Acapulco, Mexico
“Acapulco was hugely popular with tourists throughout the 20th century,” Puri told Newsweek. “Its so-called Riviera of Mexico attracted scores of international travelers looking to discover its beautiful beaches and luxury hotels.”
Yet the beach resort town, found on the Pacific Coast of Mexico in the west of the country, is now rarely visited by foreigners, as the region has become associated with widespread cartel violence.
“Unsurprisingly, tourists planning a vacation now head for safer alternatives that offer a similar kind of luxury, such as Cancún and Los Cabos,” she explained. “With the lack of international tourists, the town has also experienced declining infrastructure as lower levels of investment have seen this once glamorous location bustling with Hollywood icons fade away.”
Varosha, Cyprus
“Varosha was once the crown jewel of Cyprus’ tourism in the 1960s and early 1970s,” Alicia Walter, founder of The Passport Couple travel blog, told Newsweek. The resort town in northern Cyprus reportedly attracted up to 700,000 visitors annually and celebrities like Elizabeth Taylor and Richard Burton reportedly frequented its beaches and luxury hotels.
“However, in 1974, the Turkish invasion led to the sudden evacuation of its 39,000 residents, and the area was fenced off, remaining untouched for decades,” Walter said. “This abrupt halt transformed Varosha into a haunting ghost town, frozen in time. You can even find mannequins wearing 1970s fashion in storefronts.”
“In recent years, parts of Varosha have reopened to the public, but as a ghost town now rather than the luxurious beach town it once was,” she added.
Marbella, Spain
“Famous actors, rich business owners, royalty, presidents and other members of the European high society” used to come to Marbella, a city in southern Spain, “to show off, mingle and enjoy the exclusivity of the place,” Michael Madsen, founder of the Autentical travel company, told Newsweek. However, “that was more than 30 years ago,” he noted.
“Marbella used to be an exclusive destination for wealthy and famous, but not anymore,” Madsen said. “Gone are the fancy restaurants, expensive cars and celebrities. Not even the high-society yacht port Puerto Banús near Marbella is exclusive anymore…it has become too mainstream.”
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