Gaspard Gantzer thinks "there are too many tourists in Paris"

Paris (AFP)

Independent candidate for mayor of Paris, Gaspard Gantzer said Wednesday that "there are too many tourists" in the capital, and proposed to remedy by banning tourist buses and further limiting the nights Airbnb.

"There are whole neighborhoods in Paris that have been transformed into amusement parks," said RMC the founder of the movement "Parisiennes, Parisiens", including the Champ de Mars, Montmartre and the center of Paris.

According to Gaspard Gantzer, François Hollande's former communications advisor, the French capital that "must first be for Parisians" is losing its "village soul" because of the tourist influx.

He said "for" the ban on tourist buses in Paris and wants to divide by four the number of authorized Airbnb nights per year and per unit, set at 120 today. "It is not normal" that the giant of the rent of private houses has "Paris like second world market", he lamented.

"I do not want my city to be a postcard of Amélie Poulain" but "a city with locals, families, children, seniors, and not just tourists from around the world", justified the independent candidate.

"For 5 years, 12,000 people leave Paris every year," said Mr. Gantzer who promised to facilitate access to housing, including assistance from the City for the bonds of tenants.

The one recently joined by the ecologist leader Yves Jadot's companion, Isabelle Saporta, also recommends "to stop turning entire streets into amusement parks with simply luxury shops or places to inform tourists".

In 2018, the Ile-de-France had broken a record of attendance, with 35 million hotel arrivals from both French and foreign tourists (+ 3.6% over one year), which corresponds to some 50 million visitors, according to the Regional Tourism Committee. Tourism receipts in Paris / IDF then represented 21.5 billion euros, or 974 million more than in 2017.

© 2019 AFP