September 1st - How do you solve a problem like overtourism? The story from Dubrovnik
Simon Calder's Independent Travel Podcast
The Independent
3.6 • 628 Ratings
🗓️ 1 September 2025
⏱️ 8 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
"The pearl of the Adriatic" has been enticing millions of tourists every year, with its spectacular setting and mighty walls wrapping around the old city. More recently Dubrovnik's starring role as a backdrop in Game of Thrones has brought even more visitors. The pressure from tourism has been evident – but the Mayor, Mato Frankovic, has been telling me how he plans to rebalance the relationship between visitors and the citizens.
This podcast is free, as is Independent Travel's weekly newsletter. Sign up here to get it delivered to your inbox.
Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
Transcript
Click on a timestamp to play from that location
| 0:00.0 | Hello friends, Grace Dent here and we're back at the kitchen table, |
| 0:05.1 | serving up a brand new season of comfort eating from The Guardian. |
| 0:08.8 | Join me as I catch up over snacks with Ireland's country music queen, Seamatt. |
| 0:15.4 | Everyone's favourite potty-moused icon, Miriam Marglies, |
| 0:19.8 | and the one-woman |
| 0:20.8 | political trailblazer |
| 0:22.4 | Nicholas Sturgeon. |
| 0:24.2 | Episodes out now. |
| 0:25.9 | Listen, wherever you get your podcasts. |
| 0:30.1 | Hello and welcome to today's |
| 0:32.4 | independent travel podcast with me |
| 0:34.4 | Simon Corder. It's Monday |
| 0:35.9 | 1st of September. |
| 0:40.3 | You might be planning a city break. |
| 0:47.4 | And if you are, as a fair chance, you're considering Dubrovnik, the pearl of the Adriatic, |
| 0:58.2 | as that fine city is known right on the south by the Montenegrin border and simply one of the most ravishing cities in Europe. |
| 1:03.5 | Mighty ancient walls wrap around the old city. |
| 1:09.5 | And they've also featured in a film or two, in particular Game of Thrones. |
| 1:13.5 | And as a result of that, well, you are not going to be alone. In addition, the cruise ships that sail up and down the Adriatic, of course, will |
| 1:20.5 | want to call in at such a beautiful location, all of which spells the recipe for over tourism, and certainly at times this summer, |
| 1:33.3 | it has felt very pressurised. But the mayor, Matto Frankovich, has a plan, or rather a whole |
| 1:40.8 | series of ideas about how to manage tourism, starting with those city walls. |
... |
Please login to see the full transcript.
Disclaimer: The podcast and artwork embedded on this page are from The Independent, and are the property of its owner and not affiliated with or endorsed by Tapesearch.
Generated transcripts are the property of The Independent and are distributed freely under the Fair Use doctrine. Transcripts generated by Tapesearch are not guaranteed to be accurate.
Copyright © Tapesearch 2026.