France is the world’s most visited country. So why hasn’t it turned on tourism?
In Greece, locals are spraying graffiti. In Italy, Portugal and Spain, they’ve resorted to water weapons and mass protests.
Whereas anti-tourism sentiment has begun to bubble over throughout Europe, one nation is conspicuous in its relative silence. And it’s probably the most visited nation on the earth:
France.
Though it welcomes about 100 million travellers annually, France hardly ever makes headlines for tourism protests – a stark distinction to its neighbours, who’ve more and more vented frustration over crowded cities, rising rents and dangerous behaviour.
There is no such thing as a single purpose why France has averted the backlash, and fears that one might nonetheless be coming aren’t unfounded. However a dedication to sustainable tourism, robust infrastructure and a method to unfold guests throughout areas and seasons all play a component.
France has performed the lengthy sport
Not like many international locations now scrambling to rein in mass tourism, France began laying the groundwork years in the past.
Atout France, the nation’s tourism improvement company, has made sustainability a central tenet of its technique. Underneath a 10-year roadmap – the Vacation spot France Plan – the federal government earmarked €1.9 billion in 2021 to encourage greener, extra accountable journey.
Meaning pushing for rail journey over short-haul flights, investing in mid-sized cities and nudging guests past the standard suspects, like Paris or Good.
The nation doubled down this 12 months, with a contemporary pledge to put money into tourism that’s extra ecological, inclusive and digitally savvy. Tourism leaders hope that funding ends in longer stays, smaller crowds and extra significant experiences.
“The French authorities have invested in sustainable journey for years,” says Veronica Diquattro, president of B2C and provide at Omio, a journey search engine for Europe.
“The main focus now could be on enhancing the standard of tourism experiences, spreading customer numbers all year long to fight overtourism and emphasising ecological, digital, social and inclusive tourism practices.”
The facility of trains
France has one of the in depth rail networks in Europe – 28,000 kilometres of tracks, together with 2,800 kilometres of high-speed traces.
“France is among the many most accessible international locations for rail tourism,” Diquattro says.
Cities with as few as 20,000 folks have practice stations, she explains. Because of its high-speed rail, you may get from Paris to Marseille in three hours.
That type of entry reshapes tourism patterns. It additionally reshapes coverage.
In 2023, France formally banned home flights on some routes that may very well be finished in beneath two and a half hours by practice. Though its influence on the local weather is unclear, the transfer has however boosted practice journey and sure inspired journeys to areas which will have gone missed.
Vacationers are dispersed by design
The place Spain has the Costa Brava and Italy has Venice, France has… the whole lot. And that’s precisely how the nation likes it.
“Vacationers are unfold out in France,” says Marine Prat, a journey and enterprise occasions designer at Loire Secrets and techniques. “They don’t go to just one place. They journey to a number of areas.”
A part of this comes all the way down to historical past – France has all the time marketed itself as a rustic of areas. A part of it’s storytelling. From the châteaux of the Loire to the wine cellars of Alsace, every area affords its personal model of tourism and the infrastructure to match.
“An increasing number of folks wish to journey off the overwhelmed monitor. They wish to see completely different areas – not simply the classics, like Paris and Normandy and the south of France,” Prat provides. “Now they will see on Instagram that you could go an hour and a half from Paris and simply uncover charming villages, gastronomy and really dynamic cities.”
A cultural benefit
Maybe much less apparent, France’s legacy of internet hosting outsiders may very well be paying dividends right this moment.
“France has been a crossroads of cultures for hundreds of years,” says Prat. “It’s fairly regular to have folks from throughout go to [France]… It’s an enormous a part of our economic system.”
That lengthy historical past of internet hosting, mixed with a powerful tourism infrastructure, has doubtless helped insulate France from a few of the points seen elsewhere.
And the viewers is rising. As Prat factors out, arrivals from new markets like India, Southeast Asia, Australia and Africa have ticked upward lately. They’re discovering extra to do exterior of the massive cities and gravitating towards them, too.
“We’re attempting to promote extra native experiences,” she says. “We’re very concerned in our area. We wish to promote extra natural or biodynamic winemakers, extra native and natural meals, and individuals who work on this manner.”
Diquattro says her firm’s knowledge backs that up.
“Travellers ceaselessly select Paris as their preliminary vacation spot.” However from there, she says, they’re branching out, including that Marseille and Strasbourg are rising quick, due to higher connections and extra to expertise when travellers get there.
Can regulation fend off retaliation?
France hasn’t escaped friction. Frequent strikes – rail, air or in any other case – stay a part of the nationwide rhythm. Crowding and gentrification may very well be looming points, too.
In the meantime, the Olympic Video games final 12 months introduced a lot consideration to the Metropolis of Lights that greater than 50 million folks visited it in 2024 alone.
Earlier this summer season, residents in Montmartre started sounding the alarm over surging crowds. “Individuals come for 3 hours, have enjoyable, purchase a beret or a crepe, and depart, as in the event that they have been in an amusement park,” one resident informed Reuters.
The authorities hope that regulation might assist stave off the worst.
Whereas short-term vacation lets have triggered housing crises in cities like Lisbon and Barcelona, authorities have been faster to behave in France.
Underneath a regulation handed final 12 months – Loi le Meur – native governments can cap vacation leases, slash the variety of nights residences may be rented (from 120 to 90) and fantastic landlords who ignore the principles.
Whether or not it’s legal guidelines regulating short-term leases or a masterplan for a extra sustainable type of development, France’s system appears to be holding. Within the age of overtourism, the nation’s secret weapon is perhaps that it has deliberate for this second all alongside.
