When you impose drastic and excessively high taxes to get the “rich” and their yachts, they just sail away. Saint-Tropez, which was known as the “Billionaire’s Harbor” is just about empty. The yachts sailed off to Italy and Spain abandoning the French Riviera. The local government is pleading with Macron to intervene. They say revenue is already off 30% for boating fees. However, the whole community is feeling it because the “rich” spend money more easily in local restaurants and shops. So the whole economy in South France is dropping very sharply.
In addition, from people I know personally, they have set sail to Portugal to also escape from the refugee madness. It will be interesting to see what happens to the tourism revenue at the end of the summer.
