Nice to ban cruise ships in fight against overtourism and pollution

Cruise ships in Marseille, on France's Mediterranean coast.

The mayor of Nice is moving to ban large cruise ships from docking in its port, aiming to tackle pollution and overtourism. The decision mirrors Venice's 2021 ban, introduced to protect its fragile environment and infrastructure.

Mayor Christian Estrosi, of the centre-right Horizons party, announced this week during his New Year’s address that he plans to ban cruise ships exceeding 190 metres in length and carrying more than 900 passengers, starting this summer.

The ban will apply to Nice and the Villefranche-sur-Mer bay in the Alpes-Maritimes region, on France's Mediterranean coast.

Estrosi confirmed that a municipal order would be issued, effective from 1 July, instead of the initially planned date of 1 January, 2026.

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The United Nations Ocean Conference, which is to focus on conservation and sustainability, will take place in Nice from 9 to 13 June.

Estrosi emphasized that these measures are also part of a broader fight against overtourism. "Cruise ships that pollute and unload low-cost tourists who consume little but leave their waste behind, have no place here," he said.

Some 40 cruise ships, carrying between 900 and 5,000 passengers each, are already scheduled to dock in Nice from 1 July, with the move to banning them raising concerns in the tourism sector over lost revenue.


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