In France, 80% of tourist activity is concentrated on 20% of the territory, according to the French government, which threatens the preservation of certain natural sites. France is the number one tourist destination in the world, with nearly 90 million tourists in 2019 and 44 million tourists in Paris alone in 2022.
Where do the tourists go? There is Paris, of course, but they visit in (too) large numbers Mont-Saint-Michel, the Palace of Versailles, certain creeks of Marseille, the cliffs of Étretat, the Côte d’Azur, the islands of the national park Port-Cros and some beaches in Brittany, including the island of Bréhat.
Moreover, from July 14 to August 25, a quota has been set at 4700 people per day who will be able to visit the island of Bréhat, and in the Var, it is 6000 people per day who will be authorized to go. in the islands of Port-Cros and Porquerolles, throughout the summer period.
According to the Minister for Tourism, Olivia Grégoire, there is a lack of data and it is difficult to analyze with precision all the places which suffer from too many people. It is for this reason that it is launching a plan to regulate tourist flows and peaks in attendance. The government wants to create a national observatory of major tourist sites to fight against overcrowding and thus make the visit pleasant for everyone, tourists and locals.
It is also necessary to encourage tourists to discover other less known regions of France and to promote less frequented places such as Alsace, Burgundy, Picardy, Auvergne, the Pyrenees… We should perhaps send Emily in Paris in the gorges of the Ardèche, in the Vosges massif, in Metz or Besançon!