Le tourisme

Commissariat général au développement durableApr 20, 2023

La France est la première destination touristique mondiale depuis le milieu des années 1980. La croissance régulière du nombre de visiteurs soulève cependant la question de la capacité de charge des destinations. Les aménagements touristiques, associés aux pics de fréquentation, entraînent nécessairement des pressions sur l’environnement susceptible de fragiliser le patrimoine naturel de ces territoires et de les affecter durablement.

France has been the world's leading tourist destination since the mid-1980s. The steady growth in visitor numbers, however, raises the question of carrying capacity in popular destinations. Tourism infrastructure, combined with peaks in visitor volume, inevitably creates pressure on the environment that could weaken these territories' natural heritage and cause lasting damage.

3 chapters

Concentrated tourism influx, a source of local pressures
Seasonal peaks
The concentration of tourism in certain territories and at specific times of year creates sporadic surges of visitors to sites that sometimes have low populations year-round.
Environmental management
The fluctuations in visitor load caused by these seasonal arrivals locally increase pressure on natural resources and require adapted environmental management systems.
Tourist travel and greenhouse gas emissions
French transport modes
• Each year, three-quarters of French tourism trips are made by personal vehicle. • Relative to distance traveled per person, air travel is the preferred mode of transport after the car.
Top global destination
• Internationally, France has been the world's leading tourist destination since the 1980s. • In thirty years, the number of tourist arrivals has nearly tripled. • At the same time, international travel by French residents is also increasing, contributing to the overall rise in greenhouse gas emissions.
Mountain tourism and environmental impacts
Winter sports resorts
• Emerging in France during the first half of the twentieth century in the Alps, winter sports resorts became, within decades, a driving force of mountain tourism economies. • However, the environmental impacts caused by their development and operation (transformation of mountain landscapes, urban sprawl, resource pressures, etc.) combined with climate change consequences now challenge this development model.
Summer diversification
In parallel, during summer, the diversification of nature sports has driven the development of facilities and infrastructure (mountain bike trails, via ferrata courses, etc.) in natural spaces that are sometimes fragile and previously untouched by human activity.
Tourism's share of emissions
According to a study published by Ademe in 2021, the tourism sector accounts for 11% of France's national greenhouse gas emissions inventory for 7.4% of GDP (2018 data).

Further reading

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