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Tourism Deregulation: Copying the Spanish Model — A Bad Idea?

November 3, 2026 by Amara Nambinga

Les députés Alexis Jolly et Vincent Rolland ont déposé un rapport très commenté dans le secteur touristique - Depositphotos

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It is no longer really in doubt that France’s days, perhaps months, on the top step of the podium are numbered.

We are talking here, of course, about the world’s leading tourism power. If it isn’t first in terms of revenue—as it ranks third behind the United States and Spain—it still remains ahead in the number of visitors.

But its runner-up shows a very different growth. And this is beginning to worry the higher-ups, starting with our deputies.

To such an extent that a mission of information on the obstacles to the development of the tourism economy was commissioned by the Economic Affairs Committee of the National Assembly.

This mission has delivered its conclusions with the aim of unleashing the full potential of the tourism economy. Behind this document, we find a deputy from the National Rally, Alexis Jolly, and another from the Republican Right, Vincent Rolland.

And, for the two elected officials, tourism is above all a business affair.

“France attracts more visitors than its competitors, but earns less wealth from them. This paradox shows the gap between what our country actually benefits from and what it could really retain“, they write in the introduction.

A line that reminds us of something.

Norms, obstacles, Spain, tax and aviation… a pro-business semantic

In July 2025, Alliance France Tourisme held a symposium at the Palais du Luxembourg.

The organization had then stated that it was time to move beyond the sole quantitative objective to focus on value. Farewell to the 100 million international visitors, welcome the ambition of generating 100 billion euros in receipts from these same travelers.

In 2025, France had reached a record in tourism revenues, with 77.5 billion euros.

And to allow tourism to go into overdrive and cut through the brakes with a chainsaw-like efficiency, the two elected officials spoke with 18 organizations representing a broad spectrum of actors, including professional federations, public operators, elected officials, and experts.

The brakes, as the document states, were mainly highlighted by Alliance France Tourisme, a “place of reflection and action” that brings together players such as Pierre & Vacances, Accor, Air France, the Compagnie des Alpes, SNCF Connect or Disneyland Paris, but also many others.

A lobbying body that recurs often, indeed very often, since it appears among the most cited occurrences in the report, with 35 appearances. Just as “Spain” and “Spanish” are cited 24 times, “norm” 40 times, “development” 39 times, “brake” 29 times, then “aviation” 19 times, and “tax” 18 times.

A rhetoric that thus highlights the economic aspects of the industry, sometimes obscuring its side effects.

“The repeated appearance of Alliance France Tourisme raises ethical questions about this report.

It looks like propaganda or advocacy. The industry defends itself, because it creates jobs and economic spillovers, which is normal and will not bother anyone. But it must not do so by manipulating the numbers. We must compare comparable data.

After the summer we lived through, with wildfires and heatwaves, highlighting aviation, when it is the only sector that does not decarbonize while all the others do, that is not serious.

For me, they mock the planet, working conditions and land pressure. It’s a kind of forward rush that astonishes me, laments Prosper Wanner, sociologist and lecturer-researcher in cultural mediation of the arts at Aix-Marseille University.

Tourism: “We will never have the same model as Spain”

If aviation makes efforts, by renewing its fleet and incorporating so-called sustainable fuel, the figures do not bend enough.

According to the Ministry of Ecological Transition, CO2 emissions from commercial passenger air transport in France rose by 4% in 2024, slightly less than traffic, which grew by 6% in passenger-kilometer equivalents.

This is not all. The report would also be based on distorted figures, such as those for foreign visitors’ receipts in Spain, which include international flights, something not taken into account in France.

“They also include both aviation and travel packages. Aviation accounts for 20% of this sum, and travel packages 18%. The receipts are therefore inflated by 38% compared to our country.

The report does not take into account the leakage rate in Spain, i.e., the money that leaves the country without being redistributed to the local population, which is substantial.

There have been studies showing that on the Canaries, package holidays account for nearly 50% of stays. In Benidorm, it’s 40%. The leakage rate is therefore substantial.

Here we are comparing two very different models,

recontextualises Prosper Wanner.

To read: “The Canaries are not for sale,” the reasons for the anger

If Spain thrives on the international tourism stage, let us not forget that its very intensive model would be hard to duplicate in France.

Not only do we lack the infrastructure to host hundreds of thousands of travelers in all-inclusive hotels along the coast year-round, nor the airports, nor even the weather.

“We will never have the same model as Spain.

We will never be able to do that on the Atlantic coast, simply because when it is 30 degrees in Tenerife, it is 17 degrees in La Baule or 18 in Biarritz. In October, people go to Tenerife; they don’t go swimming in Vendée.

If we look at Corsica’s four airports, they total almost ten times fewer passenger arrivals than Palma de Mallorca Airport, with 4.37 million passengers versus 33 million for the single Spanish airport, editor’s note ndlr.

If we want ten times more people arriving in Corsica, we need ten times more supply. But I doubt the Corsicans want ten times more tourists“, recaps Jean Pinard, head of the Futourism consultancy.

“We mainly find a logic of deregulation”

To compete with the Spanish tourism industry, the report therefore proposes revising the standards to facilitate the development of tourism offerings in France.

The problem mainly concerns environmental and urban planning rules, such as species preservation and the principle of zero net artificialization, the ZAN.

The two deputies thus propose to exempt renewal projects of tourist equipment from environmental assessment. For modernization projects, they also suggest granting automatic recognition of a reason of imperative of public interest, in order to move any wild species that might be involved by these projects.

The application of the ZAN principle should also adapt to the geographic and economic particularities of territories, by providing exemptions for structuring tourism projects.

“When environmental regulations are mentioned, the deputy Jolly (RN, ed.) presents them as an ‘organized sabotage’.

Officially, he does not call for their removal, but wishes that they stop being used as a systematic brake on investment. The statement remains troubling, in a context where climate disruption constitutes a major threat.

He also denounces the power of certain networks that would have made blocking a strategy, hinting that any form of opposition should cease.

The term ‘simplification’ is omnipresent in this report. But behind this buzzword, there is mainly a logic of deregulation

“This mode of denialism in tourism cannot leave anyone indifferent”

This proposal draws smiles from many observers, because it is championed by Alexis Jolly, deputy from the National Rally (National Rally, RN).

This same party unveiled, in its counter-budget presented as the matrix of the economic program for its presidential candidate, the objective of abolishing “almost all agencies and other parasite organizations,” Marine Le Pen explained. Moreover, inside Atout France, everyone is preparing to pack up in the event of RN’s victory.

“The environment is seen only as a regulatory constraint, which slows down or raises the cost of tourism investment, in a line of thought very much of the 20th century, preceding the dissemination of scientific knowledge about the role of transport, especially in climate warming.

Instead of questioning the possible level of tourism activity in light of environmental constraints, the project aims to adapt these constraints to allow tourism projects to go ahead.

In a heated current of events, where the anxiety of one age group translates into a large social movement that questions and/or unsettles, this denialism to the fashion of tourism, which goes as far as proposing a kind of ‘tourism acceleration desk,’ cannot leave anyone indifferent“, asks Rémy Knafou, geographer and author of the book Hypertourisme, tourism tested by its excess.

For observers interviewed, the report seems more rooted in the policies of Trump and Milei than in those of Pedro Sánchez.

The Prime Minister, who has greatly increased the minimum wage, has taken various measures to channel the side effects of the tourism industry and also faces popular opposition to tourism development.

Caroline Mignon, the president of Acteurs du Tourisme Durable, laments that no actor from the associative world, environment groups or NGOs, such as ADEME or the French Biodiversity Office, were consulted. The report therefore, according to her, includes no real transition objective.

This Tiny Spanish Village Is the Best Viewing Spot for August’s Solar Eclipse

August 4, 2026 by Amara Nambinga

The small village of Avellanosa de Muñó, located in the province of Burgos in northern Spain, is about to break its usual calm to welcome a large number of visitors for an exceptional event. Usually, this hamlet has only a few inhabitants and lacks restaurants or shops. The silence is such that you can hear carpenter bees buzzing around the lavender bushes or hear the songs of the black-and-white swallows weaving between the stone roofs of the nearly deserted streets.

The only notable gathering of the week occurs when a white van, belonging to a neighboring bakery, arrives to deliver bread to the residents. Yet, in a few days, this ordinarily peaceful place will become a must-attend meeting point for astronomy enthusiasts coming to observe the total solar eclipse that will cross the Atlantic on August 12. An exceptional event that has not occurred since 1999.

Avellanosa de Muñó, an ideal place to observe the solar eclipse

Physicist María Teresa López Sánchez told the BBC that it will be the first total solar eclipse visible from continental Spain since 1912. It will only be observable along a narrow band crossing the continent, and Avellanosa de Muñó lies precisely on that trajectory. Added to this is a particularly favorable observing environment with its golden wheat fields, gentle hills, and a wide western horizon that provides an ideal setting, with few buildings and low light pollution.

This small village could thus allow astronomy enthusiasts to enjoy the eclipse in a setting calmer than the usual popular viewing sites. It will occur just before sunset and create a double dusk effect. “It will be like living two sunsets in a few minutes”, the expert explained, who then advised climbing into the caves to gain “a breathtaking view”. Born in Avellanosa de Muñó in 1937, María Teresa López Álvarez has never lived anywhere else. In almost nine decades spent in this village, she has watched it transform over the years.

For generations, the hamlet has lived off dry farming, kitchen gardens, vineyards, and livestock. But with the mechanization of agriculture and the lack of nearby jobs, many residents gradually left the village to join large cities such as Madrid, Bilbao or Barcelona. Raúl Grande Revilla, born here 73 years ago before moving to Madrid during his childhood, will return for the eclipse. He will be accompanied by some family members, forming a group of around twenty people and doubling the village’s population for an evening.

Bookings made years in advance of the solar eclipse

This August will thus mark the return of several former residents of Avellanosa de Muñó. According to the physicist, some of his neighbors will host friends and relatives coming from all over Spain, but also from the United Kingdom, France, or Venezuela. For Lucrezia López, a professor in the geography department at the University of Santiago de Compostela, such occasional events can encourage people to “rediscover a place to which they are already attached”.

The Parador de Lerma hotel, located nearby and housed in the former palace of the Duke of Lerma, has been fully booked for the event since 2022, and Alberto Bosque Coello, from Castile and León’s tourism office, says that the same pattern is happening across the region. “Most of our accommodations are full. In fact, they were booked well in advance” he notes, adding that eclipse specialists were seeking “the best place, not the best known”, because they wanted optimal observing conditions.

When the moment arrives, locals and visitors will head to the caves that overlook the village. With the sun at only eight degrees above the horizon during totality, a clear view to the west will be essential, making the perched caves a privileged place to admire this exceptional celestial spectacle. But the caves are not merely a viewpoint. For generations, this dwindling community has gathered there to watch the sunset, and one former resident even chose to have his ashes scattered there. A place of great sentimental value for the village.

This Spanish Island Could Be One of Europe’s Best-Kept Secrets

June 19, 2026 by Amara Nambinga

While some European destinations are bursting with visitors, a small Spanish island keeps living away from the crowds. Located at the western edge of the Canary Islands, El Hierro preserves its discreet charm with limited tourism, dramatic landscapes, and a preserved way of life. Between volcanic scenery, age-old traditions, and ecological ambitions, this isolated territory draws travelers in search of authenticity. A uniqueness that helps explain why it remains largely unknown to the general public, as CNN notes.

A volcanic land preserved away from the major tourist circuits

At a moment when Tenerife, Lanzarote, or Gran Canaria welcome millions of visitors each year, El Hierro stands out as an exception. For instance, more than six million international tourists visited Tenerife in 2024, compared with only 4,100 to El Hierro. This gap is largely explained by its limited accessibility. The island has no direct international flight connections and no large hotel complexes.

With its roughly 12,000 inhabitants, El Hierro presents a face radically different from the Canary Islands’ seaside resorts. Nicknamed “the island of a thousand volcanoes,” it hosts nearly 500 visible volcanic craters and around 300 more buried beneath younger lava flows. These geological phenomena have shaped a dramatic landscape where, within just a few kilometers, one encounters varied sceneries and a remarkable diversity of microclimates, despite a land area of a little over 260 square kilometers: black cliffs plunging into the ocean, pine forests perched in the clouds, and natural pools carved into volcanic rock.

This particular geography has also fostered the development of an original agriculture. In the El Golfo valley, a vast natural depression 1,500 meters deep formed by an ancient landslide, crops play a major role in the local economy. Alongside traditional productions, farmers are now experimenting with coffee, cocoa, and even dragon fruit using permaculture techniques adapted to the island’s conditions.

El Hierro also stands out for its winemaking heritage. The island’s isolation helped preserve certain grape varieties that disappeared elsewhere in Europe after the late-19th-century phylloxera crisis. Vineyards remain an integral part of the island’s landscapes and stand as a testament to an old agricultural tradition deeply rooted in local culture.

The island’s isolation likewise safeguarded varieties that vanished elsewhere in Europe—such as Baboso Negro—following the phylloxera crisis at the end of the 19th century. As proof of the drink’s importance to island culture, Alfredo Hernández Gutierrez, head of La Casa del Aguardiente, tells CNN: “There was a time, not so long ago, when we drank wine produced at home because it was more available and cheaper than water.”

An island looking to the future without renouncing its heritage

If El Hierro protects its natural heritage, it also strives to safeguard its cultural traditions. One of the most remarkable is Silbo Herreño, a whistled language inherited from the island’s first inhabitants, the Bimbaches. Used for centuries to communicate across long distances through the rugged terrain, it nearly disappeared in the 1990s. In response to the decline, local authorities established free courses for younger generations. To this day, workshops are organized in schools and at the island’s markets.

The coastline of El Hierro is another major asset. Off the village of La Restinga, the Mar de las Calmas marine reserve is renowned for its volcanic seabeds, coral reefs, and underwater visibility of up to about thirty meters. Local fishermen continue to practice artisanal fishing there in order to preserve biodiversity.

But it is mainly in the energy sector that El Hierro has gained international recognition. The island aims to run on renewable energy. Its Gorona del Viento installation combines five wind turbines, each 60 meters tall, with a hydraulic system that uses two reservoirs carved into former volcanic craters. In 2019, this setup set a world record by powering the island for more than 24 consecutive days without resorting to fossil fuels.

This ecological strategy is now accompanied by a desire to develop a more sustainable form of tourism. New museums, vineyard visits, cheese-making workshops, and experiences of traditional fishing should be offered to visitors.

For residents, however, this growth must be kept in check. As one resident told CNN, “we are happy that more people come to visit us, but preserving our simple way of life is the most important thing.” She adds: “The pace of life here gives you the time and space you need to discover yourself. In this complicated and turbulent era, it is something incredibly rare.”.