The mayor of Nice is moving to ban large cruise ships from docking in its port, aiming to tackle pollution and overtourism. The decision mirrors Venice's 2021 ban, introduced to protect its fragile environment and infrastructure.
Mayor Christian Estrosi, of the centre-right Horizons party, announced this week during his New Year’s address that he plans to ban cruise ships exceeding 190 metres in length and carrying more than 900 passengers, starting this summer.
The ban will apply to Nice and the Villefranche-sur-Mer bay in the Alpes-Maritimes region, on France's Mediterranean coast.
Estrosi confirmed that a municipal order would be issued, effective from 1 July, instead of the initially planned date of 1 January, 2026.
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The United Nations Ocean Conference, which is to focus on conservation and sustainability, will take place in Nice from 9 to 13 June.
Estrosi emphasized that these measures are also part of a broader fight against overtourism. "Cruise ships that pollute and unload low-cost tourists who consume little but leave their waste behind, have no place here," he said.
Some 40 cruise ships, carrying between 900 and 5,000 passengers each, are already scheduled to dock in Nice from 1 July, with the move to banning them raising concerns in the tourism sector over lost revenue.
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The restrictions on cruise ships in Nice follow a growing trend across Europe, where several ports have either already enacted similar measures or are planning to do so.
Venice banned cruise ships in August 2021 due to concerns over pollution and damage to the city's historical infrastructure, and Barcelona closed its north terminal to cruises in October 2023. Santorini and Dubrovnik have also tightened restrictions on cruise companies, while cruise ships visiting Scottish ports will be charged a new tax.
Impact on climate
Cruise ships are known to be major polluters. According to Fanny Pointet of the European NGO Transport & Environment, in 2023 a total of 214 cruise ships visited European ports, emitting 7.4 million tonnes of CO2, "equivalent to 50,000 round-trip flights between Paris and New York".
That year, Marseille ranked as the most polluted port in France in terms of cruise activity.In 2022, 50,000 people in the city signed a petition against cruise ships, according to campaign group Stop Croisières.
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Pointet added: "These emissions not only affect the climate but also degrade air quality."
The NGO suggests one solution could be to "decarbonise the industry to accelerate the ecological transition," and to impose taxes on passenger tickets that would fund environmental initiatives.
Meanwhile, environmentalists in Nice have praised Estrosi’s decision.
Juliette Chesnel-Le Roux, president of the Ecologist Group at the Metropolitan Council, said: "This achievement, the result of a long fight, proves that persistence pays off. It shows that the repeated warnings have finally been heard."
However, she cautioned that the victory should not distract from "the ongoing issue of mega-yachts polluting the Villefranche bay".
