80 million tourists visit France each year. 13 million are German – almost 20% of the visitors to France. These statistics tell a story that was written in the post-War period when mass tourism developed as a result of the introduction of paid holiday leave in the Western world.

The race to get to the beaches and into the sun left its mark on the Franco-German territory. When flying over the coast of each of the two countries, the significant impact that ‘democratized’ tourism left on the landscape is clearly visible.
The 20th century saw the emergence of a civilization of leisure and tourism, particularly in the 1960s and ‘70s. It would shape the geography on both sides of the Rhine.

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