The Mayor of Nice, Christian Estrosi, is reportedly backtracking on a previously announced plan to prohibit large cruise ships from visiting the Nice-Côte d’Azur region.
Also serving as the president of the French region, Estrosi wanted to ban vessels with over 900 guests from calling at local ports, which include Villefranche-sur-Mer and the city of Nice.
The measure was turned into a law earlier this year and aimed at combating overtourism, with the ban set to take effect this July.
Estrosi is now quoted as looking for a compromise between “public health interests and supporting the local economy.”
After consulting with other local leaders, the mayor toned down his plans for the larger cruise ships, France24 reported, and submitted a new plan to limit their number of calls.
Estrosi’s proposal would see 65 calls from cruise ships carrying up to 2,500 passengers allowed into Villefranche-sur-Mer per year.
In Nice, ships with over 450 guests would still be allowed to dock at the port on an unlimited basis.
Both destinations, however, would not be allowed to receive more than one ship at a time.
Quoting the local port authorities, France 24 said that Villefranche-sur-Mer is set to welcome 90 cruise ship visits this year, including 20 from ships with more than 2,500 passengers.
Roughly 125 cruise calls are expected in Nice in 2025, including 12 from ships carrying more than 125 passengers.
Estrosi first announced his plans to ban large cruise ships from the French Riviera region in January.
At the time, he said that the measure would promote “selective tourism,” noting that large cruise ships “pollute and dump their low-cost clients” in ports of call.
“These vessels do not correspond in any way to the model that we want to develop in terms of hospitality tourism,” Estrosi was quoted as saying.