The island of Bréhat in Côtes-d’Armor, Mont Blanc in Savoie, and the Calanques national park in Bouches-du-Rhône have one thing in common. Do you know which one? These three French tourist sites are victims of their success.
With 450,000 visitors per year for a population of 400 inhabitants per year, the Breton island had no other choice than to set up a gauge in order to fight against overtourism. In summer 2023, access was limited to 4,700 passengers on boats from Monday to Friday. At Mont Blanc as in the Calanques National Park, visitor quotas have also been put in place.
But these three sites are far from being the only ones affected in France: Mont-Saint-Michel, the cliffs of Étretat, the Pilat dune and the Ardèche gorges also suffer from overtourism, particularly in summer. . According to the French government, 80% of tourist activity is concentrated on only 20% of the national territory.
Popular places identified in Luxembourg
What about in Luxembourg? Unlike Étretat or Mont-Saint-Michel, the Grand Duchy remains spared from the phenomenon of overtourism. “Luxembourg’s tourism strategy does not focus on mass tourism, but aims for quality tourism by presenting Luxembourg as a tourist destination of first choice,” immediately reminds the Ministry of the Economy and Tourism.
In order to protect sensitive areas, particularly nature reserves, the Ministry of the Economy and its partners have introduced a series of preventive measures.
Ministry of Economy and Tourism
If the phenomenon of overtourism does not exist as such in the country, certain isolated places sometimes record large influxes of visitors. “In order to protect these sensitive areas, in particular nature reserves, the Ministry of the Economy and its partners have introduced a series of preventive measures following the principle of ‘protecting nature by channeling visitors’,” specifies the ministry.
Among the sites concerned, we find in particular the Haute-Sûre dam lake, which attracts thousands of visitors each year. In summer, during periods of extreme heat, many visitors flock to enjoy this swimming spot. In June 2022, the police had to intervene to channel the flow of bathers, and the latter had left a mountain of waste behind them.
A promotion based on attendance
In order to limit the consequences of this popularity, the Ministry of Economy and Tourism has put in place a strategy aimed at managing the influx of the lake. On the Visit Stausei website, potential visitors can find out about the expected occupancy rate of the site, thus avoiding unnecessary entry into the surrounding area.
“In addition, during busy periods, the ‘Visit Luxembourg’ application interrupts the active promotion of the lake and instead guides visitors towards other points of tourist interest, such as hiking trails or trails. Mountain biking,” underlines the ministry.
A strategy that works, if we are to believe the results of the latest representative surveys by Luxembourg for Tourism, which questioned visitors on their perception of frequentation of tourist places in the Grand Duchy. Thus, only 2% of tourists and 3% of foreign day trippers considered that Luxembourg was too busy. As for residents, 4 to 8% of the population felt that Luxembourg had too many visitors.
