The government unveiled its plan on Sunday evening to regulate tourist flows and in particular the peaks in attendance which overwhelm French tourist sites at certain times of the year.
To help players in the sector, a digital platform bringing together numerous resources developed by Atout France will be launched in the first half of 2024, as well as a national observatory of major tourist sites.
France is the first tourist destination in the world, but we are sorely lacking in data. We are therefore going to set up a national observatory of major tourist sites to create an information base and shared indicators which will facilitate the work of analyzing flows, declared Olivia Grgoire, the Minister Delegate for Trade in an interview with Le Figaro newspaper.
It is up to the State, hand in hand with the territories, with the tourist sites, to put in place methods to inform tourists and residents, or to support municipalities in flow management measures, to she adds.
To this end, a practical guide will be drawn up by the end of 2023 by a working group made up of actors from various backgrounds (institutions, researchers, professional federations) to define the concepts of overtourism, overcrowding and peaks in attendance in order to allow a common understanding of the phenomenon.
A communication campaign with influencers will also make it possible to raise awareness among foreign and French tourist customers of the challenges of a better distribution of tourist flows and practices, according to the press kit released by the government.
According to the World Tourism Organization, 95% of world tourists visit less than 5% of land, including France.
In France, 80% of tourist activity is concentrated on 20% of our territory, according to the government.
The consequences are multiple, such as the rise in the price of real estate in tourist areas and the harmful impacts on the environment, not to mention an effect of rejection of tourists by local populations or even opposition to infrastructure projects. tourist.