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In Greece, locals are spraying graffiti. In Italy, Portugal and Spain, they have resorted to water guns and mass protests.\u00a0<\/p>\n
While anti-tourism sentiment has begun to bubble over across Europe, one country is conspicuous in its relative silence. And it\u2019s the most visited country in the world:<\/p>\n
France.<\/p>\n
Although it welcomes about 100 million travellers each year, France rarely makes headlines for tourism protests \u2013 a stark contrast to its neighbours, who have increasingly vented frustration over crowded cities, rising rents and bad behaviour.<\/p>\n
There is no single reason why France has avoided the backlash, and fears that one could still be coming aren\u2019t unfounded. But a commitment to sustainable tourism, strong infrastructure and a strategy to spread visitors across regions and seasons all play a part.<\/p>\n
France has played the long game<\/p>\n
Unlike many countries now scrambling to rein in mass tourism<\/strong><\/a>, France started laying the groundwork years ago.<\/p>\n Atout France, the country\u2019s tourism development agency, has made sustainability a central tenet of its strategy. Under a 10-year roadmap \u2013 the Destination France Plan \u2013 the government earmarked \u20ac1.9 billion in 2021 to encourage greener, more responsible travel.<\/p>\n That means pushing for rail travel over short-haul flights, investing in mid-sized cities and nudging visitors beyond the usual suspects, like Paris or Nice.<\/p>\n The country doubled down this year, with a fresh pledge to invest in tourism that\u2019s more ecological, inclusive<\/strong><\/a> and digitally savvy. Tourism leaders hope that investment results in longer stays, smaller crowds and more meaningful experiences.<\/p>\n \u201cThe French authorities have invested in sustainable travel for years,\u201d says Veronica Diquattro, president of B2C and supply at Omio, a travel search engine for Europe.<\/p>\n \u201cThe focus now is on improving the quality of tourism experiences, spreading visitor numbers throughout the year to combat overtourism and emphasising ecological, digital, social and inclusive tourism practices.\u201d<\/p>\n The power of trains<\/p>\n France has one of the most extensive rail networks in Europe \u2013 28,000 kilometres of tracks, including 2,800 kilometres of high-speed lines.<\/p>\n \u201cFrance is among the most accessible countries for rail tourism,\u201d Diquattro says.<\/p>\n Cities with as few as 20,000 people have train stations, she explains. Thanks to its high-speed rail, you can get from Paris to Marseille<\/strong><\/a> in three hours.<\/p>\n That kind of access reshapes tourism patterns. It also reshapes policy.<\/p>\n In 2023, France formally banned domestic flights<\/strong><\/a> on some routes that could be done in under two and a half hours by train. Although its impact on the climate is unclear<\/strong><\/a>, the move has nevertheless boosted train travel and likely encouraged trips to regions that may have gone overlooked.\u00a0<\/p>\n Tourists are dispersed by design<\/p>\n Where Spain<\/strong><\/a> has the Costa Brava and Italy has Venice, France has… everything. And that\u2019s exactly how the country likes it.<\/p>\n \u201cTourists are spread out in France,\u201d says Marine Prat, a travel and business events designer at Loire Secrets. \u201cThey don\u2019t go to only one place. They travel to several regions.\u201d<\/p>\n Part of this comes down to history \u2013 France has always marketed itself as a country of regions. Part of it is storytelling. From the ch\u00e2teaux of the Loire<\/strong><\/a> to the wine cellars of Alsace<\/strong><\/a>, each region offers its own brand of tourism and the infrastructure to match.<\/p>\n \u201cMore and more people want to travel off the beaten track. They want to see different areas \u2013 not just the classics, like Paris and Normandy and the south of France,\u201d Prat adds. \u201cNow they can see on Instagram that you can go an hour and a half from Paris and easily discover charming villages, gastronomy and very dynamic cities.\u201d<\/p>\n A cultural advantage<\/p>\n Perhaps less obvious, France\u2019s legacy of hosting outsiders could be paying dividends today.<\/p>\n \u201cFrance has been a crossroads of cultures for centuries,\u201d says Prat. \u201cIt\u2019s quite normal to have people from all over visit [France]\u2026 It\u2019s a big part of our economy.\u201d<\/p>\n That long history of hosting, combined with a strong tourism infrastructure<\/strong><\/a>, has likely helped insulate France from some of the issues seen elsewhere.<\/p>\n And the audience is growing. As Prat points out, arrivals from new markets like India<\/strong><\/a>, Southeast Asia, Australia and Africa have ticked upward in recent years. They\u2019re finding more to do outside of the big cities and gravitating toward them, too.<\/p>\n \u201cWe\u2019re trying to sell more local experiences,\u201d she says. \u201cWe are very involved in our region. We want to promote more organic or biodynamic winemakers, more local and organic food, and people who work in this way.\u201d<\/p>\n Diquattro says her company\u2019s data backs that up.<\/p>\n \u201cTravellers frequently choose Paris as their initial destination.\u201d But from there, she says, they\u2019re branching out, adding that Marseille and Strasbourg are growing fast, thanks to better connections<\/strong><\/a> and more to experience when travellers get there.<\/p>\n Can regulation fend off retaliation?<\/p>\n