Locals in another major tourism destination call for new ban amid 'overcrowding' fears

By Maria Ortega, Foreign Content Specialist, Jon King, News Reporter

Locals in Paris say they are fed up with coach tour buses clogging up their streets (Image: Getty)

Locals living in Paris are demanding limits on the number of tourist coaches entering the city amid complaints the vehicles are a blight on neighbourhoods. Resident Julie Meynard said high coach numbers caused air pollution, looked unsightly and made it harder for locals to move around their own city.

She launched a petition on change.org two years ago in a bid to encourage local authorities to take action on what she considered to be the result of overtourism. The French capital is said to have returned to its pre-pandemic tourist numbers this summer. Paris City Hall has identified an "overconcentration" of tourists in certain hotpspots, including Montmartre, the Eiffel Tower, the Panthéon, the Champs-Élysées and others.

Frédéric Hocquard, Deputy Mayor of Paris in charge of tourism and nightlife, said: "We need to stabilise the number of tourists in Paris. We need to regulate it."

Mr Hocquard said between 500 and 600 tour operator buses on average enter Paris daily, causing "overactivity and overcrowding".

He now wants to exclude tour coaches from the city altogether, according to Belgian news outlet 7sur7.

Ingrid Mareschal from the National Federation of Passenger Transport said: "We must not at all stigmatize this mode of transport."

She said it is highly developed abroad and a ban would cause a significant loss of revenue for the entire tourism industry.

Ms Mareschal blamed a cut in the number of parking spaces for coach drivers flouting the city's road regulations - a complaint of frustrated Parisians.

A ban on coaches would follow the introduction of a tourist tax in the city which aims to help fund development and support the industry.

Visitors staying in accommodation including palaces, hotels, furnished rentals, B&Bs, holiday villages and youth hostels have to pay. The amount varies from 56p (€0.65) for one and two-star campsites to £13.50 (€15.60) for palaces per person per night.

On the possibility of a ban on coaches, Ms Mareschal said: "If we establish a virtuous flow of transport, traffic, and parking, coaches will no longer be a nuisance."