FRANCE - Keep Tourists Out!
While the plan is being rolled out over 10 years, large-scale actions are already in place; in 2023, the French government outlawed all domestic flights to destinations reachable by train in less than two and a half hours, and this summer it trialed a €49 monthly train pass for 16 to 27-year-olds, which covers unlimited travel on the TER regional rail network and intercity trains nationwide, but not the faster TGV services.
In Etretat, the town council has removed a clifftop car park to deter people from dropping in just for photo-opps and installed a fence to protect the eroding landscape. The Calanques National Park in Marseille has been partly closed to visitors during peak season to reduce marine pollution and protect the delicate ecosystem of the limestone inlets. Nice is pushing its winter agenda, encouraging people to combine a city break with skiing in the southern Alps, under 50km from the city.
And then there’s St-Tropez, possibly the most famous fishing village in the world, which is encouraging tourists to stay away during high season in a not-so-subtle way: “Don’t come in the summer,” St-Tropez’s mayor, Sylvie Siri, told me earlier this year as part of an event called Secret St-Tropez, which was designed to promote the town as an out-of-season destination. “Come in spring when it’s like the St-Tropez of our childhoods.”
Alice Degen, Marketing Manager at Hôtel de Paris St-Tropez, says they are working to increase occupancy during what she calls the “ailes-saison”—the months that shoulder the two peak months—by launching events like Sunday brunches and Soirées La Vie En Rose (women-only DJ sets and pink cocktails on the rooftop terrace).
Even travelers who have been to St-Tropez many times will find something new and refreshing about visiting in spring or autumn. Without the stifling crowds and heat, you can see beyond the “bling-bling” yachts, the harbor-front restaurants and the boutiques, giving you time and space to discover quiet beaches, a rich history and proud, passionate locals. It’s certainly a worthy first stop on any journey to find the alternative France.
-www.bbc.com, 16 August 2024
Arno's Commentary
France is unquestionably the most popular tourist destination in the world. WPtravel.io reports that for 2023, France received over 100 million tourists, followed closely by Spain with 85.2 million.
One must take into consideration that France—somewhat smaller than Texas—has a population of about 66 million. Thus, more tourists than residents. This compared to the USA, with 334 million inhabitants and only 66.5 million international visitors in 2023. The numbers are expected to increase for 2024 and beyond.
This testifies that the world is getting richer and richer. Only the rich and famous could travel to Europe a century ago. Today, nearly everyone from the industrialized world can. From the United States, for example, 96.5 million US citizens departed in 2023.
What does this mean prophetically speaking? Here we must consult the prophet Ezekiel, who reveals the abomination of Jerusalem, comparing it to Sodom: “Behold, this was the iniquity of thy sister Sodom, pride, fulness of bread, and abundance of idleness was in her and in her daughters, neither did she strengthen the hand of the poor and needy” (Ezekiel 16:49). We notice the words, “fulness of bread, and abundance of idleness,” but we know what happened: Sodom and Gomorrah were destroyed, apparently at the height of their prosperity.
We also recall Nebuchadnezzar who showcased his pride in Babylon: “The king spake, and said, Is not this great Babylon, that I have built for the house of the kingdom by the might of my power, and for the honour of my majesty? While the word was in the king’s mouth, there fell a voice from heaven, saying, O king Nebuchadnezzar, to thee it is spoken; The kingdom is departed from thee” (Daniel 4:30-31).
While we hear much about chaos, catastrophe, war, famine, and pestilence, a closer examination reveals it’s occurring in isolated places. The world at large is indulging in luxury as never before. That was even the case with the Laodicean church, as documented in Revelation 3:17: “Because thou sayest, I am rich, and increased with goods, and have need of nothing; and knowest not that thou art wretched, and miserable, and poor, and blind, and naked.”
Arno Froese is the executive director of Midnight Call Ministries and editor-in-chief of the acclaimed prophetic magazines Midnight Call and News From Israel. He has authored a number of well-received books, and has sponsored many prophecy conferences in the U.S., Canada, and Israel. His extensive travels have contributed to his keen insight into Bible prophecy, as he sees it from an international perspective.
