Banning tour operator buses, limiting hotel accommodation... In Nice, these anti-overtourism measures are tempting the mayor

From June 3 to 13, 2025, the 3rd United Nations Ocean Conference (UNOC) and its related events made Nice the center of the world. This will further boost the attractiveness of the metropolis , already ranked as the second most popular French tourist destination after Paris. And will it contradict the challenges of combating climate change advocated at the UN meeting?

Certainly, if we read the recommendations made at UNOC by Plan Bleu, the United Nations Environment Programme for the Mediterranean basin. In their prospective scenarios for 2050, its scientists list among the solutions to deal with the rampant global warming in the basin "sustainable tourism" and the banning of "destructive mass tourism."

"No question of becoming Florence or Rome!

In an interview with Nice-Matin to review the UNOC, Christian Estrosi, mayor of Nice, assures that he wants to do the same. After the limitation of cruise ship gauges, decried, for different reasons, by both the traders of Villefranche-sur-Mer and the environmentalists of Nice , he states: "I don't want overtourism anymore. No question of becoming Florence or Rome!"

Among the new measures under consideration: "We are working on drafting a decree to ban tour operator coaches from entering Nice as quickly as possible: they will park on the outskirts and their passengers will take public transport," the elected official announced.

What about limiting the hotel stock or establishing quotas like the Balearic Islands in Spain ? "In terms of quality accommodation, we're in balance. I'm very much in demand for land for new hotel investments: I'm not necessarily in favor of it. Our tourism is our history, our jobs too. I want to preserve it but by doing less and better," explains Christian Estrosi.