Having difficulty finding a table in a restaurant, feeling oppressed by the crowds when visiting a museum or a monument, walking among piles of waste... So many situations that the French say they are increasingly confronted with when their travels in France and abroad.
Three quarters of them have even already given up visiting a tourist site because of the waiting time, indicates an OpinionWay survey for Evaneos, a platform for connecting travelers with local agents.
Among the sites that they consider most affected by overcrowding, they first cite the Eiffel Tower, Saint Mark's Square in Venice, the Louvre Museum, the pyramids of Egypt and the Colosseum in Rome.
In addition to waiting times, the French observe other harmful effects of overtourism.
If the “deterioration of tourist sites (waste, tags, etc.)” (67%) and “natural resources” (61%) are the most cited impacts, they also point to the “degraded quality of life for the populations local” (57%) and “increase in prices” (54%).
So many negative points that the French fear to suffer during the Paris Olympic Games (from July 26 to August 11, 2024).
Nearly 90% of them believe that the event will contribute to an “
increase in the price of catering, accommodation and transport
”, “
make travel by public transport more complex
” and “
worsen overtourism in Paris
”.
The French in favor of visitor quotas
Among the popular solutions to limit the impacts of overcrowding, one in two respondents are in favor of establishing visitor quotas.
More and more French destinations have been using it in recent years, such as the coves of Marseille, the island of Bréhat in Brittany or the islands of Port-Cros and Porquerolles in the Var.
Elsewhere, the regulation of tourist flows also involves the introduction of taxes as in Venice or Bali.
Other solutions: “
encourage responsible behavior [...] through awareness campaigns
” (44%) or “
encourage the discovery of lesser-known destinations or places
” (41%) which can serve as alternatives to emblematic places.
Respondents are ready to make some concessions, such as favoring destinations that are less visible on social networks (80%) and going out of season (78%).
On the other hand, only a quarter of respondents say they are willing to pay more to travel far from the crowds.
(1) Survey carried out among a sample of 1,009 people representative of the French population aged 18 and over from January 24 to 25, 2024 via an online questionnaire.
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