A stunning city on the French Riviera is bringing in “drastic action” on cruise ships in a bid to combat overcrowding and pollution. Cannes, renowned globally for its international film festival, will ban any vessels carrying more than 1,000 people from its harbour starting January 1 next year.
The French hotspot has now become the latest city joining a growing global backlash against overtourism. Cannes city councillors, which voted on the measures on Friday called the new limits “drastic regulation”. The city council says it aims for cruise tourism to be “less numerous, less big, less polluting and more aesthetic.”
Under the new limits, only ships with fewer than 1,000 passengers will be allowed in the port, with a maximum of 6,000 passengers disembarking per day.
Larger ships will be expected to transfer passengers to smaller boats to enter Cannes. Cannes saw a significant influx of cruise passengers in 2024, with 318,000 visitors arriving by ship.
Mayor David Lisnard, the city’s lawyer, says the move is not about banning cruise ships but regulating them.
“Cannes has become a major cruise ship destination, with real economic benefits. It’s not about banning cruise ships, but about regulating, organising, setting guidelines for their navigation,” Mayor Lisnard said in a statement.
The Cruise Lines International Association (CLIA) has expressed concerns about these restrictions, calling them damaging for destinations and for passengers.
The neighbouring city of Nice announced limits on cruise ships, which are set to start on July 1. Nice’s Mayor Christian Estrosi said he will ban luxury liners carrying more than 900 passengers from the glitzy resort of Villefranche-sur-Mer, where cruise ships dock to visit the city and its nearby picturesque towns. He previously called cruise ships “monsters of the seas” that “pollute and dump their low-cost clientele”.
Venice banned large liners from reaching its city centre in 2021, followed by Amsterdam and Barcelona in 2023.