Five million people live in Brittany but each summer the population swells to three times that figure. It seems that some locals have had enough. It’s not overtourism per se that is the problem but it’s the presence of Parisians that particularly grates.
In recent days cars with Parisian number plates (ending in its departmental number of 75) have been vandalised in some towns and graffiti has been daubed on walls telling Parisians ‘to get out.’
Frankly, Paris is another country to the rest of France
This resentment has been simmering for a number of years. There were protest marches in 2022 about the difficulty for Bretons to get their feet on the property ladder. The Covid lockdowns of 2020 led to a huge surge in demand for holiday homes in Brittany, especially from Parisians in search of a seaside bolthole. In some towns 80 per cent of houses are holiday homes.
The mayor of Plobannalec-Lesconil has reacted with dismay to the hostility expressed by some of his residents in recent days. ‘I wish to express my deep indignation and revulsion at the acts of vandalism committed against vehicles registered in the Paris region,’ he declared.
