When Mayor Christian Estrosi addressed a crowd of supporters for Nice’s traditional New Year’s ceremony this week, nobody was prepared for the bombshell he would drop.

“Cruises that pollute, that dump their low-cost clientele who consume nothing but leave their waste behind, have no place here,” he announced. “We prevented concrete from suffocating Nice, it is not to let overtourism suffocate it in turn.”

“I don’t want floating hotels to drop anchor in front of Nice,” he added.

In a statement sent to Euronews Travel, Christian Estrosi’s office told us,

“We have decided, based on the contracts signed in 2025, to ban these large units and allow only those that do not exceed 190 meters in length and a capacity of 900 passengers.”

But not all cruise ships will be hit by the new rules. The mayor advised he will specifically stop ships longer than 190m and those with a capacity for more than 900 passengers from docking in the ports.

“I want us to act so that we are rid of cruise ships from July 1, 2025, without having to wait until January 1, 2026,” Estrosi told Nice Press. “We are working to cancel all cruises that can still be cancelled and we will draft a banning order.”

Mayor Estrosi claims that such an order would reduce the number of arriving cruise passengers by 70 per cent.

“Venice has regained its beauty and its landscape by having a mayor who definitively refuses cruises. We intend to go in this direction, too,” he said to local press.

Why does Nice want to ban cruise ships?

Like residents of many European ports, people in Nice have had enough of the growing cruise industry.

Europe is one of the largest cruise markets in the world, with Eurostat figures showing a record 16.4 million cruise passengers passing through EU ports in 2023, five million more than a decade ago.

Cruise ships are growing too. Celebrity Cruises bring their Apex Edge-class cruise ship to Villefranche-sur-Mer, the port immediately to the east of the city of Nice. It’s a 306-metre-long behemoth, depositing over 3,400 people (and likely some of the 1,300+ crew) into the small town, which has a population of 5,012.

Even Estrosi admits that tourism is essential to Nice. Tourism office figures suggest it’s in the region of 40 per cent of the revenue of Nice Côte d’Azur Metropolis. But cruise passengers may not spend as much with local businesses as you might think, partly because they have already paid for their food and drink onboard.

A study from Bergen, Norway – a popular stop for fjord tours – found that up to 40 per cent of people never left the ship. For those who did go ashore, their average spend was less than €23.

The cruise industry argues that a passenger’s average contribution to the local economy is much higher than the Bergen estimate at around $100 (€91) a day.

While there may be an economic benefit to this sudden influx of people, it can be overwhelming for small towns and cities. But although overtourism was cited by Estrosi as his main motivation, his office clarified that the environmental impact was also a significant concern.

“Today, we have units that are essentially floating cities with over 5,000 passengers, keeping their engines running, emitting sulfur and other pollutants into the atmosphere, creating no jobs, and contributing to overtourism,” added Christian Estrosi’s office. “These units in no way align with the model we wish to develop in terms of tourism, hospitality, and respect for the local population.”

Cruise ships are incredibly polluting. Even the most efficient modern cruise ships emit around 250g of CO2 per passenger kilometre, ten times more than a passenger plane.

But it’s not just CO2 that pumps out of the funnels. Sulphur dioxide, nitrogen oxide and ‘black carbon’ or soot is belched into the sky, damaging air quality and contributing to acid rain. Some LNG-powered vessels also release methane.

These floating cities release huge amounts of wastewater, leech toxic heavy metals into the ocean and endanger fragile wildlife, ocean mammals and habitats.

Several European towns and cities have already banned cruise ships from their ports. Venice, in 2021, banned ships from docking in its historic centre. Mallorca has limited the number of ships that can dock at once, and Barcelona has closed its north terminal to cruise ships.

Will locals in Nice be supportive of Estrosi’s wish?

Many locals have long been campaigning for an end to cruise ships in Nice and other parts of the region so they welcome Estrosi’s plans

Juliette Chesnel-Leroux, leader of the green opposition in Nice speaking to France 3, hailed the move as “a historic victory for ecology … obtained after a long fight.” She added that it demonstrates that “repeated warnings about the disastrous consequences of these giants of the seas have finally been heard.”

European ports have played host to a number of anti-cruise protests over the last year, many of which involved the group ‘Stop Crosière,’ or ‘Stop Cruises.’. Based in the Marseille region, they are actively campaigning to ban cruises. A statement on their website reads:

“On an environmental level as on a human level, nothing justifies the maintenance of these absurd, energy-intensive and toxic floating cities.”

Speaking on the ici Province radio station, a local Radio France outlet, co-founder and spokesperson for the Stop Croisiere collective Guillaume Piccard welcomed the prospect of a ban, but raised concerns with the details.

“What is a bit regrettable in the statement of Mr. Estrosi is that he wants to sort between luxury cruises and mass cruises,” said Piccard (translated). “He wants the small cruise ships to still come into the port of Nice, just that their passengers don’t drop rubbish on the ground.”

Jacky Bonnemains, director of the NGO Robin des Bois, also takes Estrosi’s comments with a pinch of salt. “The declarations made by Mr. Estrosi, Mayor of Nice, are a bit of a flash in the pan,” he told Euronews Travel. “It’s a political show before the United Nations Ocean Conference.”

Can the Nice mayor ban cruise ships?

According to BFMTV, Christian Estrosi and the town hall have little to no power to ban cruise ships. The decision will rest on the shoulders of the port and the chamber of commerce.

However, Estrosi does have some influence. In the past, he has held various ministerial positions in the French government, serving under both Sarkozy and Chirac. He is also a former president of the Regional Council of Provence-Alpes-Côte d’Azur, which owns the ports in Nice.

Experts have also questioned the deadline of 1 July as being rather optimistic to be able to implement a ban. Jacky Bonnemains points out that reservations have already been made for 124 cruises to dock in Nice, up from 117 in 2024 and 97 in 2023.

“These 2025 mega-ship calls are planned by MSC and Costa Croisières,” says Bonnemains. “They will anchor in the bay of Villefranche-sur-Mer bordering Nice, where passengers will embark and disembark by shuttle.” Parking offshore and shuttling passengers in would not be stopped under Mr Estrosi’s proposed ban.

The Robin des Bois chief also criticises the language used by the mayor, noting that he talked about low-cost passengers and litter, but failed to mention air pollution. “It’s more a class opposition between the poor and the rich,” says Boonemains, “than a critique of the various nuisances of mass cruising.”

The efforts of the mayor to ban cruise ships came less than two weeks after it was announced Nice had been picked to host the United Nations Ocean Conference in June.

While the sentiment behind Estrosi’s announcement is well-received by the environmental lobby, the impact will be dwarfed by the impact of heightened aviation activity in the region.

Nice Côte d’Azur Airport undertook a major expansion in 2024, with works ongoing throughout this year. By 2026, it will have increased its capacity from the current level of 14 million passengers per year to a new high of 18 million passengers.

The expansion has been backed by a €100 million loan from the European Investment Bank and has received plenty of vocal support from Mayor Christian Estrosi.

Short-term rental booking platform Airbnb has hit back at Spanish restrictions on rental properties, stressing that they will have severe repercussions for both income and jobs.

Citing research undertaken by Oxford Economics in late 2024, Airbnb warns of 400,000 jobs being put at risk by the regulations, alongside almost €30 billion of income.

The Spanish government implemented new regulations on short-term rentals on 2 January. Any property owner wishing to rent out their house is now required to be registered in a national database and obtain a permit before they can list their property on booking platforms.

Accommodation providers are also required to collect sensitive personal information from their guests, including bank details and personal identifiers. Spain has also proposed to raise VAT on short-term rentals to match the 10 per cent paid by hotels.

Although it went live in January, the regulation won’t be fully enforced until 1 July. After that date, property owners risk fines of up to €600,000 for non-compliance.

Why is Spain placing these restrictions on rental properties?

For the Spanish government, companies like Airbnb are fueling a housing crisis that can only be stopped through regulation.

“Our obligation is to prioritise use of homes over tourist use,” Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez said at a press conference last week. “There are too many Airbnbs. What’s lacking is housing.”

Sanchez claims that non-residents from outside the EU bought approximately 27,000 houses and apartments in Spain in 2023, not to live in but to make money from. “With the housing scarcity that we have, we clearly cannot allow this,” he concluded.

Alongside restrictions on who can rent out houses and new red tape for potential landlords, Spain is hoping to apply a tax of up to 100 per cent on property purchases for non-EU buyers. This would include buyers from the UK.

Another reason for the changes is residents speaking against the effects of overtourism. Throughout 2024, parts of Spain were rocked by dramatic anti-tourism protests at visitor hotspots, with more expected in 2025.

Despite local protests, Spain saw a 10 per cent increase in visitors in 2024, with 94 million foreign tourists visiting according to Tourism Minister Jordi Hereu.

For property owners, the implementation of these new rules is an unwelcome and often confusing addition.

“There is a lot of uncertainty about it,” says Samuel Toribio, head of Europe at rental platform Homelike. “We are seeing different layers of legislation being applied at the same time that in some cases are contradictory.”

Toribio notes that these different applications at municipal, regional and nationwide levels are causing confusion in the market. While the national policy requires a registration number, some regions are implementing the rules differently.

In Andalucia, for example, the rules change depending on the length of the rental term, and in Madrid, a rule is being passed preventing any new short-term rentals in the city centre. “There is a lack of standardisation in the scene that leads to worrying uncertainty,” he added.

Airbnb warns of impacts on rural communities and small businesses

The Oxford Economics report found that 141 million guest nights were spent in short-term rentals in Spain in 2023. Hosts earned €5.4 billion, but having those guests in Spain earned the economy €29.6 billion through spending in shops, restaurants and local businesses.

“Excessive restrictions imposed on short-term rentals will not only be detrimental to hosts but also to rural development and commercial activity in small local businesses,” says Airbnb. “They will also harm family tourism that simply seeks to find affordable accommodation in non-crowded areas, damaging Spain’s competitiveness as a family destination.”

Data from Eurostat shows a trend towards rural and less-visited locations for short-term rentals. In 2023, 33.6 per cent of nights were spent in rural areas, up from 31 per cent in 2018, an increase of 17.6 million guest nights.

Last year, around 150 small Spanish towns and municipalities welcomed their first tourists, and Airbnb has rentals available in more than 5,000 rural and non-urban localities across the country.

“Airbnb’s role in promoting these rural experiences enhances the appeal of these destinations, empowers local communities, and encourages sustainable tourism practices,” concludes Oxford Economics.

Airbnb says 70 per cent of its bookings are for properties in rural or low-density urban areas.

“By staying in a holiday home, these travellers have discovered new neighbourhoods and landscapes,” said Juliette Langlais, EMEA Public Affairs Director at Airbnb. “By directing tourists away from crowded urban destinations where hotel supply, concentrated tourist flows and local challenges accumulate, short-term rentals have dispersed the benefits of tourism to local families and business in countless rural destinations.”

Rental platform HomeToGo told Euronews Travel that, in 2024, 87 per cent of its searches for stays in Spain were for rural destinations.

Do restrictions on holiday rentals solve overtourism?

Case studies from other cities where restrictions on short-term rentals have been imposed suggest this will not be the golden bullet Spain is looking for.

In Amsterdam, which has implemented a number of regulations on short-term rentals, the tourists haven’t stopped coming. Since the current regulations were introduced in 2022, the overall guest nights in the city have increased by 12 per cent.

While hotels have seen guest nights soar, the impact of the regulations has hit short-term rental owners disproportionately. In the same period, there was a 52 per cent decrease in short-term rental guest nights, which Oxford Economics says could mean €269 million in potential host earnings have been lost.

The report also flags a growing ‘informal’ rental market, where hosts simply ignore the system and rent to guests unofficially, advertising in classifieds or on social media instead of regulated platforms.

“Airbnb understands that in certain areas popular with tourists, where dedicated short-term rentals make up a large share of the housing stock, the impact on housing costs and availability could be relatively high,” says Jaime Rodríguez de Santiago, General Manager of Airbnb Spain. “This is where Airbnb is open to working with governments to enforce targeted and tiered regulation.”

Short-term rentals make up a tiny proportion of the total housing stock in major European cities. Amsterdam has the highest proportion, but it’s still only 1.5 per cent. In Spain, 1.2 per cent of Barcelona and Madrid’s housing is classified as short-term rentals.

But even this is not the full picture, as many of those rentals are lived in for at least some of the year by the property owners. When it comes to dedicated rentals, which are available for at least 180 nights a year, Madrid’s share is 0.1 per cent and Barcelona’s 1.3 per cent.

Airbnb claims that the hotel lobby has been pushing the message that short-term rentals are to blame for housing shortages. But if it’s not Airbnb and similar platforms causing the housing crisis, what is?

“The main issue is the lack of supply,” Samuel Toribio told Euronews Travel. “The rhythm of new houses built hasn’t yet reached the standards of 2007 due to an increased cost of production, lack of professionals in the industry and inability to attract investment.”

Toribio also cites the new residential law in Spain, which came into effect in 2023, as being ‘scary’ for the industry. He says that there is a lack of fiscal incentives for private landlords to put more housing on the market.

Airbnb Spain says the fundamental problem is not enough houses being built. “In the last decade, Spain has built fewer homes than at any point since 1970,” a spokesperson told Euronews Travel. “In 2023, data from the Ministry of Housing shows that the creation of new households in Spain outpaced the number of new homes built by three to one.”

The rental platform also points out that Spain has over four million vacant homes, accounting for more than 14 per cent of its housing stock.

When it comes to overtourism, Toribio notes that discussions are needed that go beyond the current regulations. “There is a huge need for a discussion around potential quotas and the type of tourism that cities can absorb,” he says.

Airbnb and the Oxford Economics report both flag that, by implementing these restrictions, Spain could actually be driving more tourism to the already overcrowded cities and urban areas.

“These regulatory limitations are contributing to Spain’s tourism economy being heavily reliant on international hotel chains, super-concentrated in certain urban and coastal areas,” says Airbnb. “This is fueling mass tourism and driving up accommodation prices for travellers, with little or no benefit to local families.”

Rome’s Fiumicino Airport has found a novel way to use the empty land alongside runways – by covering it with 2.5 km of solar panels.

Creating the largest airport solar farm anywhere in Europe, the electricity produced by the panels will be used within the airport and reduce its reliance on fossil fuels.

The new installation will help Leonardo da Vinci Rome Fiumicino Airport to reach its goal of being net zero by 2030, much sooner than most other airports are aiming for.

Rome Airport’s solar farm: Is it visble from flights?

Passengers flying into Rome, which welcomes 50 million passengers a year, will be treated to a bird’s eye view of the 55,000 solar panels. They are installed along the eastern side of runway three.

The PV installation will reduce the airport’s CO2 emissions by more than 11,000 tons per year, equivalent to 1,477 homes’ energy use for one year.

This is just the start of Rome airport’s plans for solar. They plan to install more panels around the airport over the next five years, ultimately hoping to produce enough energy to power 30,000 Italian homes.

“The project shows how it is possible to reach the Net Zero Carbon goal and how decarbonisation can be achieved not through sacrifice but rather by becoming more modern and carbon neutral”, Italy’s Minister of Environment and Energy Security Gilberto Pichetto Fratin told Euronews Travel at the project launch.

Under an Italian ministerial decree, it’s hoped that other unused land can be used for renewables.

“The law includes all those areas like abandoned quarries or areas between highways and rail tracks,” said the Minister. “There are so many stretches of land in Italy that cannot be used for agriculture and that can be instead repurposed for these types of projects”.

Do airports have high carbon emissions?

Yes, it takes a lot of energy to power an airport, hence why many have targets in place to cut their carbon emissions.

By using airport land to generate renewable energy, airports can reduce their reliance on fossil fuels while contributing to the green transition.

Marco Troncone, CEO of Aeroporti di Roma, told Euronews Travel how the new solar farm will help the airport to become net zero.

“These solutions, such as using renewable energies, mainly photovoltaic systems, together with electric vehicles to move around the airport, are part of the green transition. This is just the first step in a process that will lead the airport to achieve net zero emissions in the next four to five years.”

Italian environmental NGO Legambiente welcomed the new solar farm, expressing hope that both the airport and Italy could become a model for growth of the green economy worldwide.

Watch the video above to see Rome Fiumicino airport’s solar farm.