City officials in Nice, France announced that the city intends to ban large cruise ships from calling at Nice’s port.
Nice, capital of the Alpes-Maritimes department on the French Riviera, is the second-largest French city on the Mediterranean coast and sits on the pebbly shores of the Baie des Anges. Founded by the Greeks and later a retreat for 19th-century European elite, the city has also long attracted artists. Former resident Henri Matisse is honored with a career-spanning collection of paintings at Musée Matisse. Musée Marc Chagall features some of its namesake’s major religious works. Currently, the city is an extremely popular tourist destination.
According to Nice Mayor Christian Estrosi, together with environmental organizations and conservative politicians, he opposes excessive tourism and the negative impact on the environment.
Staring from July 1, 2025, Nice plans to ban the mooring of liners with more than 900 passengers and leave the port open only for small ships and yachts.
Nice city officials target the issues of overtourism and pollution through the implementation of a ban, advocating for a form of tourism that is selective rather than imposed. This includes prohibiting ‘floating buildings’ and ‘low-cost cruises.’
According to the city hall, large cruise ships attract mass tourism, which brings in little income, but creates a significant amount of garbage and interferes with the sustainable development of the city. Numerous European towns and ports have been urging for similar limitations on cruise ships, Nice city officials claim.
Currently, the Nice authorities are actively working to cancel all cruises calling at the city’s port, despite the fact that such tours were planned and sold in advance.
Smaller cruise ships measuring up to 190 meters (623 feet) in length, with a maximum capacity of 900 passengers, are not impacted by the new ban.
According to city officials, here are already 124 scheduled arrivals of smaller luxury vessels in Nice for the year 2025, each accommodating between 32 and 700 passengers.
Experts suggest that Cannes, which also suffers from excessive cruise tourism, may follow Nice in introducing similar restrictions.
Both cities are inspired by the example of Venice, Italy where cruise ships have been barred from navigating the Giudecca Canal and its lagoon since August 2021, bringing significant environmental and social benefits.