france24.com

AFP / Lionel Bonaventure (file photo) | A tourist double decker bus in front of the Eiffel Tower in Paris.

Paris aims to ban tourist buses from the city centre to spur visitors to walk, cycle or take public transport, tackling complaints about nuisances caused by mass tourism, the French capital’s deputy mayor said.

Emmanuel Gregoire told Le Parisien newspaper that the situation in Paris was not as bad as in tourist-swamped Venice or Barcelona but Parisians were concerned about the influx of tourist buses.

“We no longer want the total anarchy of tourist buses in Paris….Buses are no longer welcome in the very heart of the city,” Gregoire said.

Paris is crisscrossed by dozens of hop-on, hop-off double-decker buses that shuttle tourists between the main monuments, as well as international tourist coaches that bring in budget travellers from all over Europe.

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