France wants to put a lid on the tourist crowds that flood historic landmarks and natural treasures each year, though officials have said it would not be easy, reports Yahoo! News.
Tourism minister Olivia Grégoire on Sunday unveiled a plan to regulate visitor flows at the most popular sites and lay out a strategy against "overtourism".
She said France, the world's biggest tourist destination, particularly needed to better manage the peak-season influxes that threatened "the environment, the quality of life for locals, and the experiences for its visitors".
The issue is urgent for prime destinations worldwide as international travel surges after Covid-19 lockdowns. Many of the most revered French sites, such as the Mont-Saint-Michel abbey in Normandy, say they are overwhelmed by the number of visitors.
On the famed Channel beach of Etretat, which saw a tourism surge thanks to the plot of the hit Netflix detective series "Lupin", the 1,200 residents see up to 10,000 tourists a day in the high season.