"Book your passage, and we guarantee you a quality visit to the island." This is the new motto of Olivier Carré, mayor of Île-de-Bréhat (northwestern department of Côtes-d'Armor). This emblematic site in Brittany, 10 minutes by boat from the Pointe de l'Arcouest in Ploubazlanec, a commune in the region, is expected to welcome an average of just over 3,000 tourists a day this summer. And on Monday, July 22, a municipal by-law regulating access to the site came into force for the second year running.

Until August 23, from Monday to Friday, only 4,700 visitors will be able to access the 3.09 square kilometer island between 8:30 am and 2:30 pm. In the afternoon, this quota will be lifted, as the municipality considers that some of the day-trippers will have already left. The 412 permanent residents – owners of second homes, workers, emergency services, police, customs and national defense personnel – are not affected by this quota. The municipality estimates that by counting those exempted and those crossing outside the time window, a maximum of 5,340 people could reach Bréhat on a regulated day.

For several years throughout Europe, major cities such as Venice, Florence and Amsterdam, as well as saturated sites like Marseille's calanques (coves), have been trying to control excess visitor numbers. The municipality of Île-de-Bréhat took the plunge in 2023, following two years of rising visitor numbers, with peaks of over 5,000 people a day. To avoid this, it has decided to introduce gauges at the height of the summer season, the mayor's objective being "Not more, but better."

In 2023, during the regulated period, around 135,000 visitors landed on the island, compared with 147,350 over the same period in 2022. The quota was only reached on two occasions, with around 5,700 day-trippers on August 9 and 5,300 on August 16. In 2024, the order will be renewed identically to establish a basis for comparison. The only change will be the period covered, with one week less. "There was very little traffic between July 14 and July 25-26, 2023, so there was little point in regulating this period," Carré said.

One year after this unprecedented decision in Brittany, the results are positive for the municipality: The visitor satisfaction index is up again, there are fewer parking problems on the mainland, fewer complaints and less aggressiveness from day-trippers. However, Carré acknowledged that the unfavorable weather in July 2023 partly skewed the results. "The most important thing is the change in practices," the mayor said. "Visitors have got into the habit of making reservations, and the principle of regulation has become part of everyday life."

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