A new measure added to France's 2026 draft Budget would introduce a fee per cruise ship passenger at each French port of call.
On Monday, France's Senate voted in favour of adding a new tax for international cruise ship passengers.
The idea follows the 'polluter pays' (pollueur-payeur) principle, which aims to put the cost of pollution and prevention on the polluter, rather than those affected.
The measure would make cruise ship passengers pay €15 per port of call in France, leading to an estimated revenue of €75 million per year to finance the protection of French coastlines.
The senator who tabled the measure, Jean-Marc Délia from the right-wing Les Républicains party, justified the measure, noting that cruise ships emit more than seven million tonnes of CO2 in Europe each year.
Will the measure pass?
French President Emmanuel Macron's centrist government opposed the measure, with budget minister Amélie Montchalin pointing out the "difficulty of differentiating between a cruise ship and a ferry."
As things stand, only the Senate has supported the new tax on cruise ship passengers. The Assemblée Nationale must still examine it, which will likely take place in mid-December.
The measure only goes into law if it passes both houses and if the overall draft 2026 Budget passes.
Measures to crack down on cruise ships
Cruise ships have become a more common sight along the French coastlines, to the dismay of some locals who decry overtourism and pollution.
The French government tourism agency, Atout France, estimated that mainland France saw more than 3.8 million cruise passengers pass through in 2023, an increase of 13 percent compared to 2019 (pre-COVID). They found that most passengers were German, American or British.
The vast majority of passengers (three million) went to Mediterranean ports. The other 704,500 went to the Atlantic coast, which has been growing in popularity in recent years - more than doubling since 2014.
In 2024, the number of cruise ship passengers hit 35 million worldwide, representing an increase of five million from 2019.
Individual French cities have tried to crack down on cruise ships.
Most recently, in October, local officials in Nice proposed a new system to regulate cruise ship arrivals.
The proposal would make it so ships are limited to 2,000 passengers disembarking per day, though larger ships (with more than 1,300 passengers) that dock offshore would be limited to one boat per day per site, with a maximum of 15 per month in July and August.
It would also set up new rules for pollution peaks. In a 'level 1' pollution peak, ships must reduce emissions, and at a 'level 2' peak, the port of call can be cancelled.
Cities like Bordeaux and La Rochelle in western France have sought to limit the number of ships that can dock per season.
The mayor of Nice sought to ban large cruise ships, but eventually a French administrative court ruled the mayor did not have the authority to make such a decision.