With 100 million visitors last year, France is the world’s top tourist destination – and major attractions such as the Louvre are complaining that demand is unsustainable. How then has France avoided the public protests against over-tourism happening in other European countries?
Across parts of southern Europe, summer protests against over-tourism have become an annual fixture.
In almost 20 cities across Spain, Italy and Portugal this year, demonstrators gathered on June 15 to protest overwhelming visitor numbers that they say are degrading quality of life for locals.
“Your wealth is our misery,” read a sign at a march that attracted thousands of people in the Mallorcan capital of Palma – the first of many planned across Spain this summer.
A major complaint among the attendees was the deluge of tourist accommodation listed on sites such as Airbnb, driving up housing prices, forcing residents out of their neighbourhoods and hollowing out the very culture and communities that many visitors hope to experience.
Domestic travellers are likely to behave in similar ways as locals and speak the same language.
Read more on FRANCE 24 English
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