Once glamorous celebrity vacation hotspot is now overpriced and overrun with tourists and influencers: Descended like locusts
The South of France used to radiate an effortless je ne sais quoi.Today, it’s radiating content creation.Once synonymous with understated glamour, Brigitte Bardot-era beach clubs and impossibly chic Europeans escaping the spotlight, St.
Tropez has become the latest victim of overtourism, influencer culture, and luxury brands chasing viral visibility.“It’s not so much influencers in general that are the problem; it’s what happens when they start strip mining lovely locations for content and leave them quite bedraggled after having descended on them like locusts,” critiqued Kiki Astor on Instagram.She, like many others, feels that St.Tropez has become a see-and-be-seen destination, a popular hot topic on travel forums and Reddit threads.
Mourners of the “old St.Tropez” take to social media to lament the pitfall of influencer culture on the iconic summer travel spots and reminisce about the understated elegance that existed before Instagram.But despite the begrudged opinions of the social media influx, traveling to St.
Tropez has never been more desirable, or expensive.A recent survey from France Magazine showed that Saint-Tropez recently topped rankings as France’s most expensive beach destination, with average nightly hotel prices soaring far above other coastal hotspots.Meanwhile, luxury real estate continues to smash records as wealthy international buyers continue to pour in, further fueling the overcrowded and over-the-top opulence.Yet many travelers and natives argue that all that money has come at the expense of the town’s soul.Formerly a quaint, Mediterranean fishing village, St.Tropez transformed into a legendary playground for the international jet-set and Hollywood royalty in the 1950s.The shift has been years in the making.
As Instagram, TikTok and luxury travel exploded in tandem, destinations once prized for exclusivity became valuable not just as vacation spots, but as backdrops.Yet, despite the undeniable glitz, the town retains m...