Marseille announces proposal to control extreme levels of tourism

Marseille, a city in southern France, recently announced a new proposal to tackle over-tourism in the city with new restrictions on short-term lets.

The Mayor of Marseille, Benoît Payan, unveiled the latest plans, claiming that the new restrictions will prevent rental owners from “wanting to make money off the people in Marseille” by urging them to let to long-term renters instead.

Explaining the latest development, Payan sharply instated his views on the impact of over-tourism on housing in the city, saying he plans to “use everything the law allows me as a weapon.”

“I’m going to oblige anyone who wants to [rent on] Airbnb to buy an apartment and put it up for long-term rental,” he said, per Euronews. “I’m going to use everything the law allows me as a weapon. It’s going to make them stop wanting to make money off the people of Marseille.”

When Payan first entered office in 2020, he vowed to address the acceptance rate of those seeking authorisation on short-term rentals in the city. Reportedly, when he first started, the acceptance rate was around 82 per cent, but it has since dropped to just four, per Time Out.

This attitude is spreading across the entire country, joining popular destinations like Paris in the efforts to clamp down on the negative impacts of over-tourism in historic and residential areas. Paris recently secured a ruling that states all short-term lets need local authorisation to be granted, and it has since banned all lettings of second homes.

How are other destinations responding to over-tourism?

Recently, the Andalusian city of Seville implemented a similar infrastructure to curb the impact of over-tourism on rent prices in popular destinations. In addition, they restricted tourists being granted licenses in areas already immensely impacted by over-tourism, like the city centre and areas like Triana.

Many cities worldwide are beginning to launch caps on let licenses, as Barcelona and Madrid recently announced plans to execute a similar restriction, with Barcelona planning a full ban by the end of 2028.

Moreover, with over-tourism impacting more than just local rent prices, other locations and cities are implementing distinctive strategies to address the array of negative impacts, like Spain‘s Balearic Islands’ decision to introduce higher tourist tax and more places issuing warnings against tourism behaviour, as we’ve seen in Majorca, Croatia, Greece, Montenegro, and more.

Last year, Croatia warned visitors they could be fined up to £3,400 for walking around shirtless or drinking in public places. At the same time, Dubrovnik took this a step further by forbidding tourists from carrying wheeled suitcases in the city centre due to the noise disruption. Greece is also attempting to control their over-tourism situation by banning the construction on the island of Santorini.

With over-tourism impacting housing, pollution, employment, damage to historical monuments, identity, and culture, more authorities and governments are imposing restrictions on visits to reinstate the quality of life and preserve the environment of local communities.