Saint-Malo facing a wave of tourists

Saint-Malo is famous for its fortifications, adorned with high walls all around the city. Conceived at first to protect the city from the restless sea and invaders, it fails to stop the horde of tourists that comes visiting the privateer city every year. An affluence that impacts the inhabitants life as the city’s economy centers around tourism.

An affluence breaking records every year

Annabelle lived in Saint-Malo before moving to the Parisian region in her twenties to start working. When she comes back, it is to see her family during the vacations, at the same time as all the tourists. Over the years, she noticed the numbers of visitors growing, and at the same time the city adapting to them. “It’s getting worse and worse. When I still lived there, there were already tourists but now, it’s unbearable .”

This observation is not just an impression : During summer 2023, Saint-Malo broke attendance records. There were 22% more visitors compared to the previous year, an estimate of 2.5 million according to the tourist office. The latter is trying to redirect tourists to other sites not as well-known outside the city, but they can’t stop tourists from coming in.

This huge affluence was partly due to the famous transatlantic race that took place in 2022. “La route du Rhum” (litt. “Road of Rhum), takes place every 4 years and always impacts the tourist attraction for a year or two. Another event bringing attention to the city is “Quai des Bulles”, the second biggest festival about comic books in France that takes place every year.

Boats as far as the eye can see during the “Route du Rhum”

A city adapting to change

In front of this wave of tourists, the city had to adapt its infrastructure. Beginning with the parkings. In the summer, the 14 paid parkings located in and around “intra-muros”, the city-center, are full. 

Annabelle knows the best deals to park for free, or almost. “I park very far from the city center on the few parking lots that are still free. Otherwise, you have to arrive very early in the morning to find a place. But parking has always been complicated. Recently they found a solution by building an underground car park.” 

The city has also set up a free shuttle between the most distant car parks and the city center to unclog the ones in the center. Expanding the car parks is far from a trivial choice, as they generated 1,9 million of incomes, for 2,3 millions of turnover in 2023. 

Alongside parkings, bike paths and bright signs to steer cars better, even the shops of the city center have been transformed : “I saw the historic center completely transformed. The greengrocer and the butcher have been replaced by overpriced creperies and souvenir shops. It became an open-air museum”, deplore Annabelle.

Same thing happened to public services. The post office and the police station are now out of intra-muros. As for the tax office, it was transformed into a four-star hotel.

Kouign Amann sales stalls invade the city / the Breton bowls that tourists love

Struggling for housing

The biggest issue for the inhabitants is housing. With a quarter of furnished tourist accommodation, a quarter of secondary residences, and 30% of social housing, there are few apartments available to rent. The outbreak of Airbnbs and other seasonal rentals makes Saint-Malo a ghost town off-season : Usually, the city counts 47.000 inhabitants, but it can go up to 200.000 residents during summer. 

This “closed shutters” phenomenon accentuates the housing crisis. In France, the price of housing by the sea has increased by 3.4% in one year. An outbreak which often prevents local populations from settling. The inhabitants are effectively pushed outside the ramparts.

Many protests were heard from inhabitants and organizations regarding this situation. In July, an anonymous banner, hung on the ramparts, “Stop overtourism, Saint-Malo is not Disney Malo”, created a controversy. In August, another one, “Saint-Malo is not a second home”, was spotted on the highway.

Initiatives taken by the municipality

Facing this crisis, in 2021 the city hall was the first in France to become aware of the problem and therefore capped seasonal rentals: within the city limits, only one in eight accommodations can now be rented on a platform like Airbnb. According to the city hall, thanks to the decree there is approximately 30% of short-term rental housing in the intra-muros sector. Without it this figure would have increased considerably, potentially even reaching up to 80-90%.

But some organizations contest this claim : The collective of residents of Saint-Malo affirms that more than 200 owners do not play the game and still put their accommodation online. The collective regrets that the controls are insufficient.

The hidden risk behind Saint-Malo’s charm

The fearsome seagulls attacking tourists

As a consolation prize, the inhabitants can still enjoy the oddities of tourists. Annabelle sees these scenes every year : “Since I was little, tourists have always been trapped by the peculiarities of the city. Cars parked at low tide sunken when the water rises, people stucked on the Grand Bé (an island accessible by foot when the sea is low) because the tide rises… And when you hear someone screaming in the city center, it’s probably because a seagull stole their snack”.

Grand Bé at low tide on the left, recovered at high tide on the right

Behind this funny aspect hides a more severe one. The tide represents a danger for anyone who is poorly informed about it. During the high tides, which are tides of great amplitude happening multiple times a year, many people come to observe the spectacle of waves crashing on the sea wall. The danger is even higher : the curious can get too close to the edge of the sea wall because they don’t realize how strong the waves are. Every year people drown after they get caught up by the waves.

During the most important high tides, the mayor sometimes takes the decision to close access to the seaside to pedestrians and vehicles for a few hours.

A child unaware of the danger facing a wave breaking on the sea wall

Despite the measures taken to regulate the tourist influx into the city, Saint-Malo continues to suffer from the flow of tourists which becomes more important each year. The inhabitants have understood it well, they are now invited to live in the neighborhoods on the edge of the city.