'I wouldn't come here to be honest'

In a summer of overtourism, a viral Oslo travel advert with nearly 20 million views is turning the tables on what travellers want. It's hardly a traditional start to a tourism advertisement : "I wouldn't come here to be honest," says an unimpressed resident of Oslo. The narrator, a 31-year-old man named Halfdan, then introduces viewers to Norway's capital, and complains about its lack of pretension, its easily accessible art like Edvard Munch's The Scream ("Not exactly the Mona Lisa," he notes) and its accessibility.

All the while, he strolls through a tranquil cityscape with no queues, crowds or selfie-snappers in sight. "You can just walk from one side of town to the other in, like, 30 minutes," Halfdan grouses. "Is it even a city?" Since its release in late June, the one-minute and 45-second, English-language film has attracted nearly 20 million views, delighting the city's tourism officials.

Perhaps it shouldn't come as a surprise. The video's release comes as a growing group of travellers are beginning to turn away from well-worn tourist paths. No longer, it seems, do they want to join throngs of visitors to see the same landmarks and take the same pictures to show their friends on social media.

Locals aren't happy with the status quo either. Last month a mass tourism protester in Barcelona drenched visitors with water , and in nearby Majorca, a crowd of 20,000 locals marched to protest the hordes of holidaymakers who have driven up rents and turned their home into a pla.