Another Cruise Ship Ban Hits One Of World’s Most Popular Vacation Destinations
The official website of the city of Cannes on the French Riviera recently published an article sharing its new regulations concerning the cruise industry. According to the document, the city is implementing new restrictions on huge cruise ships approaching Cannes’ port.
Fewer tourists will be allowed in the city daily, and only one large boat will be permitted inside the bay each day. Cruise fares will also increase, even though these will remain significantly lower than those in other popular European ports. The main reason behind this controversial choice is the need to protect sea ecosystems and limit pollution in the area.
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The Cannes City Council has recently implemented new regulations drastically limiting cruise access to its port and enforcing new passenger limits. By 2026, the city will only welcome ships with a maximum of 1,000 guests. Vessels with a larger capacity will have to use smaller boats to transport the passengers inside the port.
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Cannes Information |
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Region |
Provence-Alpes-Côte d’Azur |
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Population |
74,040 (2022) |
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Area |
7.58 sq mi (9.62 km2) |
Only one large vessel will be allowed in the bay per day, and the new daily passenger limit will be set to 6,000 individuals. Commenting on the new restrictions, Mayor of Cannes, David Lisnard, declared:
Today, Cannes City Hall is accelerating its concrete environmental policy and achieving a drastic reduction, from 2026, in the number of calls by giant ships with more than 3,000 passengers. It is not a question of being against cruises but of welcoming, in the long term, only smaller, more aesthetic, more modern and environmentally friendly units. Cannes acts with method, consistency and rigor to constantly reconcile economic, attractiveness and biodiversity protection issues.
Apart from the cruise limits, the City Council of Cannes also announced an increase in cruise fares. The new fares will be implemented between 2026 and 2027. Despite this, the article claims they will still be 50% lower than those charged in other major European ports.
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Why Is Cannes Limiting Cruises?
With a population of fewer than 75,000 inhabitants, the vast crowds of tourists associated with cruises have started to negatively impact Cannes, a city mainly renowned for the famous Cannes Film Festival. According to the city’s official website, the goal is now to attract ‘fewer, smaller, less polluting and more attractive cruise ships.’ The choice to limit the number of cruise ships allowed in the port, as well as passengers, is mainly due to environmental concerns:
Faced with the increase in the number of cruise passengers (460,000 in 2024) and the pollution generated by giant cruise ships, Cannes City Hall is strengthening its action to preserve the marine environment, the air and the landscape.
Cannes is now working on an eco-friendly mooring area south of Sainte-Marguerite Island. According to current estimates, by 2027, 20 environmentally friendly moorings between six and twenty meters will be available. These will be able to protect the seabed from ship anchors. Yet, sea floors aren’t the only concern. Unfortunately, cruises are highly polluting. Plenty of cities in the Mediterranean Sea have now implemented similar bans. For instance, cruises are now banned from the popular island of Santorini.
According to a report published by Transport & Environment, one of the biggest cruise ships powered by liquefied natural gas, named MS Iona, emitted approximately the same amount of methane as 10,500 dairy cows per year back in 2022. The article also claims:
We found that in 2022, 214 cruise ships emitted 509 tonnes of SOX , 19,125 tonnes of NOX and 448 tonnes of PM2.5 around European ports (…). Cruise ship activity in Europe clearly keeps increasing with 3 times and so does air pollution, since marine pollutant standards around ports have not improved in many years.
Protecting the environment while ensuring local businesses relying on tourism continue to thrive despite the new bans will be challenging. Hopefully, Cannes will be able to make the most of these new regulations without drastically impacting its economy.
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