As popular destinations across Europe continue their efforts to curb overtourism, Cannes became the latest city to announce restrictions on large cruise ships, which will go into effect January 1, 2026.
Ships with a maximum capacity of more than 1,000 passengers will be banned from the harbor of the French Riviera hot spot. The action is one component of what the city council described as a “drastic regulation” to limit the impacts of cruise tourism, which it adopted in a late-June meeting, French newspaper Le Monde and other news outlets reported.
Other restrictions include a daily cap of 6,000 cruise passengers disembarking in the city and a relocation of the anchorage for large cruise ships to farther out to sea, away from the city’s world-famous beaches. Le Monde reported that passengers on larger cruise ships will need to be ferried to Cannes on smaller boats.
The aim is to shape the city’s cruise tourism to be “less numerous, less big, less polluting, and more aesthetic,” according to a statement from the Cannes city council, cited by the Associated Press.
“Cannes has become a major cruise ship destination, with real economic benefits. It’s not about banning cruise ships, but about regulating, organizing, [and] setting guidelines for their navigation,” Cannes mayor David Lisnard said in a statement, according to the AP.
Cannes joins its French Riviera counterparts Nice and Villefranche-sur-Mer in implementing measures to limit cruise tourism. In January, Nice mayor Christian Estrosi issued a decree banning cruise ships with more than 900 passengers but backtracked in March following pushback from maritime organizations and unions in the Cote d’Azur and Monaco regions. (It’s unclear whether the July 1 date that was initially discussed to implement the ban is moving forward; representatives for tourism boards in the region did not respond to requests for comment at the time of publication.)
A growing list of cities restricting cruises
On a broader scale, Cannes’ upcoming cruise ship ban is the latest in a growing movement across Europe to combat what some critics, environmental groups among them, contend are the negative effects of overtourism, including the impacts of large cruise ships. Venice led the way in 2021 with a ban on the megavessels in its UNESCO-protected lagoon.
In 2022, Barcelona, one of many Spanish destinations grappling with too many tourists, took action by announcing restrictions on cruises coming into its port. The measures, implemented in October 2023, closed the city’s central port and now require cruise ships to dock at a terminal south of the city.
Amsterdam, too, has placed strict limits on cruise tourists, which are part of a larger plan to reduce visitor numbers. In 2023, its city council voted to phase out cruise ships from entering the heart of the Dutch capital, followed by additional measures in May 2024 that reduce by half the number of river cruise ships that call in the city. In 2026, 100 large cruise ships will be allowed into Amsterdam’s port (a notable drop from the previous limit of 190), and by 2035, the vessels will dock at a terminal 16 miles outside of the city that is currently under construction.
Cannes’ announcement comes amid a summer travel season that’s already seen a notable rise in backlash against overtourism, which critics contend is detrimental to both the quality of life for locals and the environment. On June 15, widespread organized protests occurred in popular destinations in Southern Europe, including Barcelona, Lisbon, Naples, and Palermo.
Cannes’ cruise ship ban also comes on the heels of the widely publicized, celebrity-studded wedding of Amazon billionaire Jeff Bezos and Lauren Sanchez in Venice, which drew heated protests from local groups. Dozens of superyachts that appeared in the city for the three-day, multimillion-dollar festivities were, apparently, not subject to the city’s ban on large ships.
