Is overtourism ruining Paris charm?

CGTN Europe

European cities are struggling with surging numbers of tourists. Paris is the most visited on the continent but many residents are complaining overtourism is caused the city to lose its local charm. CGTN correspondent Rahul Patak reports.   #Europe #France #tourism #travel

Transcript

00:00Some European cities are struggling with increasing numbers of tourists.

00:04Paris is the most visited on the continent, but many people living there are complaining that over-tourism is eroding its charm.

00:12Our correspondent Rahul Pathak reports.

00:16Tourism, for countries like France, it plays a vital role in supporting its economy.

00:21In 2023, France was visited by 100 million foreign tourists, making it the most visited country in the world.

00:30That year, over $83 billion was generated by tourism, but can you have too much of a good thing?

00:38Tourism has taken up such a large portion of public walkways and everywhere else, in the shops, etc., and it has become unbearable.

00:46And for the local residents, when we arrived, we thought, it's a nice neighborhood and the tourists are part of everyday life.

00:52Now we say there's tourism and we're suffering from it.

00:55And Renaudi is the president of the Viva Montmartre Residents Association.

01:03She says the place she grew up in is now catering almost exclusively for tourists rather than local residents.

01:09Now we're down to two or three butcher shops, two cheese shops.

01:16They're disappearing one after the other in favor of, well, depending on the trend.

01:21There was a period of big clothing brands, same as in the Marais district.

01:25And now it's a lot of ice cream, crepe, taco places.

01:29All these businesses are food shops, yes, but reserved for tourists.

01:33Thanks to the Olympic Games, 2024 was certainly a big year for Paris in terms of tourists.

01:39But the 48.7 million visitors are still not as high as the numbers in 2019, when over 50 million people visited the French capital.

01:48Since then, there was a big drop in 2019 due to the pandemic.

01:52But from 2020 onwards, the numbers have increased year on year.

01:55The signs are that 2025 is shaping up to be an even busier year with tourist bookings in January, up to 20% on the same month last year.

02:03Local residents have suggested making the situation more manageable by limiting tour groups to 25 people and raising the tourist tax.

02:11But the local mayor believes over-tourism is creating an even bigger problem than just too many people on the streets.

02:18For me, the big issue is housing.

02:21How do we make sure that we can continue to find housing on Marmata?

02:24That means fighting against Airbnb and rental platforms.

02:28It also means fighting against all predatory measures.

02:30People who buy up entire buildings, who force tenants to leave, so they can be replaced.

02:36Real estate prices in Marmata have gone up 19% in the last 10 years, forcing many locals to leave the area.

02:44The fear is that in chasing the tourist dollar, Marmata could be losing the identity that made it so special in the first place.

02:50Lachal Pathak, CGTN.

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