How we decide what counts as undertouristed.
Every destination on this site carries a Density Score from 0 to 10. This page explains how the score is calculated and where the data comes from. We expose the method openly so that you can disagree with it.
The Density Score
The Density Score combines four signals into a single number from 0 to 10. The lower the score, the more undertouristed the destination relative to its national context.
Two of the four signals are mandatory; a destination must satisfy at least two of the criteria below before it is even considered for publication. No destination publishes with a score above 5 — that is the editorial line.
1. Tourist density (40%)
Overnight stays per resident per year, drawn from Eurostat's regional tourism statistics (NUTS-2 level). We compare the destination's figure against the national median for its country, rather than against a single European average — what counts as "quiet" in Croatia is not the same as in Estonia.
2. Seasonality (20%)
The seasonality coefficient measures how much of the destination's tourism falls into its short peak season. A high coefficient — strong summer, empty shoulders — implies room to grow shoulder and off-season demand without distorting the place. Destinations with year-round, evenly-distributed tourism score worse here than seasonal ones with capacity to fill.
3. Region of origin (20%)
Destinations located outside the top tourism-receiving NUTS-2 region of their country score better. The point is to surface places that are structurally outside the well-trodden circuits, not just statistical outliers within them.
4. Local capacity (20%)
Evidence of active local actors — municipality, DMO, cooperative, association — committed to a sustainable tourism plan. We do not award points for tourism that is happening to a place; we award them for tourism the place can carry.
Data sources
Eurostat regional tourism statistics (latest annual release), national DMO open data where it exists, the EDEN network, OpenStreetMap, and GTFS feeds for public-transport reachability. Methodology version and source date are recorded on every destination page.
What we don't do
We do not invent destinations. Every place on this site is somewhere people already live and work; we cover it as it is, not as it could be. We do not include destinations where the local actors have asked us not to. We do not promote places at or near visitor capacity, even when they are statistically "undertouristed" on paper.
Methodology version v1.0. Last reviewed May 2026. We expect this document to evolve — meaningful changes will be tagged with a new version number and dated on the relevant destination pages.