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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