Mayor of Nice vows to ban ‘floating hotels’: Will he be able to ban cruises by the summer?

When Mayor Christian Estrosi addressed a crowd of supporters for Good’s conventional New Yr’s ceremony this week, no person was ready for the bombshell he would drop.

“Cruises that pollute, that dump their low-cost clientele who devour nothing however depart their waste behind, don’t have any place right here,” he introduced. “We prevented concrete from suffocating Good, it isn’t to let overtourism suffocate it in flip.”

“I do not need floating accommodations to drop anchor in entrance of Good,” he added.

In an announcement despatched to Euronews Journey, Christian Estrosi’s workplace advised us,

“We’ve got determined, based mostly on the contracts signed in 2025, to ban these giant items and permit solely these that don’t exceed 190 meters in size and a capability of 900 passengers.”

However not all cruise ships can be hit by the brand new guidelines. The mayor suggested he’ll particularly cease ships longer than 190m and people with a capability for greater than 900 passengers from docking within the ports.

“I need us to behave in order that we’re rid of cruise ships from July 1, 2025, with out having to attend till January 1, 2026,” Estrosi advised Good Press. “We’re working to cancel all cruises that may nonetheless be cancelled and we’ll draft a banning order.”

Mayor Estrosi claims that such an order would scale back the variety of arriving cruise passengers by 70 per cent. 

“Venice has regained its magnificence and its panorama by having a mayor who definitively refuses cruises. We intend to go on this route, too,” he stated to native press.

Why does Good need to ban cruise ships?

Like residents of many European ports, folks in Good have had sufficient of the rising cruise business. 

Europe is likely one of the largest cruise markets on the earth, with Eurostat figures displaying a file 16.4 million cruise passengers passing by means of EU ports in 2023, 5 million greater than a decade in the past.

Cruise ships are rising too. Celeb Cruises deliver their Apex Edge-class cruise ship to Villefranche-sur-Mer, the port instantly to the east of the town of Good. It’s a 306-metre-long behemoth, depositing over 3,400 folks (and certain among the 1,300+ crew) into the small city, which has a inhabitants of 5,012.

Even Estrosi admits that tourism is crucial to Good. Tourism workplace figures counsel it’s within the area of 40 per cent of the income of Good Côte d’Azur Metropolis. However cruise passengers might not spend as a lot with native companies as you may suppose, partly as a result of they’ve already paid for his or her food and drinks onboard. 

A examine from Bergen, Norway – a well-liked cease for fjord excursions – discovered that as much as 40 per cent of individuals by no means left the ship. For many who did go ashore, their common spend was lower than €23.

The cruise business argues {that a} passenger’s common contribution to the native financial system is far greater than the Bergen estimate at round $100 (€91) a day. 

Whereas there could also be an financial profit to this sudden inflow of individuals, it may be overwhelming for small cities and cities. However though overtourism was cited by Estrosi as his predominant motivation, his workplace clarified that the environmental affect was additionally a big concern.

“At present, we now have items which might be primarily floating cities with over 5,000 passengers, conserving their engines operating, emitting sulfur and different pollution into the environment, creating no jobs, and contributing to overtourism,” added Christian Estrosi’s workplace. “These items under no circumstances align with the mannequin we want to develop when it comes to tourism, hospitality, and respect for the native inhabitants.”

Cruise ships are extremely polluting. Even probably the most environment friendly fashionable cruise ships emit round 250g of CO2 per passenger kilometre, ten instances greater than a passenger airplane.

However it’s not simply CO2 that pumps out of the funnels. Sulphur dioxide, nitrogen oxide and ‘black carbon’ or soot is belched into the sky, damaging air high quality and contributing to acid rain. Some LNG-powered vessels additionally launch methane.

These floating cities launch big quantities of wastewater, leech poisonous heavy metals into the ocean and endanger fragile wildlife, ocean mammals and habitats.

A number of European cities and cities have already banned cruise ships from their ports. Venice, in 2021, banned ships from docking in its historic centre. Mallorca has restricted the variety of ships that may dock without delay, and Barcelona has closed its north terminal to cruise ships.

Will locals in Good be supportive of Estrosi’s want?

Many locals have lengthy been campaigning for an finish to cruise ships in Good and different components of the area in order that they welcome Estrosi’s plans

Juliette Chesnel-Leroux, chief of the inexperienced opposition in Good chatting with France 3, hailed the transfer as “a historic victory for ecology … obtained after an extended struggle.” She added that it demonstrates that “repeated warnings concerning the disastrous penalties of those giants of the seas have lastly been heard.” 

European ports have performed host to a variety of anti-cruise protests over the past yr, lots of which concerned the group ‘Cease Crosière,’ or ‘Cease Cruises.’. Primarily based within the Marseille area, they’re actively campaigning to ban cruises. An announcement on their web site reads:

“On an environmental stage as on a human stage, nothing justifies the upkeep of those absurd, energy-intensive and poisonous floating cities.”

Talking on the ici Province radio station, an area Radio France outlet, co-founder and spokesperson for the Cease Croisiere collective Guillaume Piccard welcomed the prospect of a ban, however raised issues with the small print.

“What’s a bit regrettable within the assertion of Mr. Estrosi is that he desires to type between luxurious cruises and mass cruises,” stated Piccard (translated). “He desires the small cruise ships to nonetheless come into the port of Good, simply that their passengers don’t drop garbage on the bottom.”

Jacky Bonnemains, director of the NGO Robin des Bois, additionally takes Estrosi’s feedback with a pinch of salt. “The declarations made by Mr. Estrosi, Mayor of Good, are a little bit of a flash within the pan,” he advised Euronews Journey. “It’s a political present earlier than the United Nations Ocean Convention.”

Can the Good mayor ban cruise ships?

In keeping with BFMTV, Christian Estrosi and the city corridor have little to no energy to ban cruise ships. The choice will relaxation on the shoulders of the port and the chamber of commerce. 

Nevertheless, Estrosi does have some affect. Prior to now, he has held numerous ministerial positions within the French authorities, serving below each Sarkozy and Chirac. He’s additionally a former president of the Regional Council of Provence-Alpes-Côte d’Azur, which owns the ports in Good.

Specialists have additionally questioned the deadline of 1 July as being reasonably optimistic to have the ability to implement a ban. Jacky Bonnemains factors out that reservations have already been made for 124 cruises to dock in Good, up from 117 in 2024 and 97 in 2023.

“These 2025 mega-ship calls are deliberate by MSC and Costa Croisières,” says Bonnemains. “They may anchor within the bay of Villefranche-sur-Mer bordering Good, the place passengers will embark and disembark by shuttle.” Parking offshore and shuttling passengers in wouldn’t be stopped below Mr Estrosi’s proposed ban.

The Robin des Bois chief additionally criticises the language utilized by the mayor, noting that he talked about low-cost passengers and litter, however failed to say air air pollution. “It is extra a category opposition between the poor and the wealthy,” says Boonemains, “than a critique of the assorted nuisances of mass cruising.”

The efforts of the mayor to ban cruise ships got here lower than two weeks after it was introduced Good had been picked to host the United Nations Ocean Convention in June.

Whereas the sentiment behind Estrosi’s announcement is well-received by the environmental foyer, the affect can be dwarfed by the affect of heightened aviation exercise within the area.

Good Côte d’Azur Airport undertook a serious growth in 2024, with works ongoing all through this yr. By 2026, it’ll have elevated its capability from the present stage of 14 million passengers per yr to a brand new excessive of 18 million passengers.

The growth has been backed by a €100 million mortgage from the European Funding Financial institution and has acquired loads of vocal assist from Mayor Christian Estrosi.