France is to trial a "visitor's permit" in the spring in Sugiton, a pristine cove on the southern French coast near the Mediterranean city of Marseille and a popular site that has been threatened for several years by severe erosion.
The high cliffs and sapphire-blue waters at the Sugiton pebble beach are a big tourist draw for the Calanques National Park, not least because other areas of the forest reserve are often closed because of the risk of fire.
Some 1,500 people converge at the site each day in the high season, which putting a major environmental strain on the area,
Risk of erosion
In recent years people have been walking down the slope to the beach instead of taking the path intended to limit damage to vegetation.
"There's a real erosion risk because there is little soil...the roots of pine trees in particular could be exposed and weakened," a park spokesman said.
"We could lose the whole landscape if we do nothing," he said.
Online booking
To cap the number of visitors at 200 or 300 a day, a free online reservation site will be set up with tests starting this spring ahead of full implementation from the 15th of July to the 15th of August.
Rangers will check permits at the entry to the inlet and also carry out spot checks, in what will be the first test of its kind for a French national park.
It is the latest step for authorities struggling to manage the environmentally fragile coast.
They have already banned unauthorised boats from mooring at the inlets, drastically reduced the number of parking spots, and begun posting pictures of the crowded beaches on social media to discourage people from coming.
