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Once a quiet fishing village on the French Riviera, made famous by Brigitte Bardot, Saint-Tropez is now suffocating under the weight of tourists, astronomical prices, and an insatiable thirst for social media content, The Post reports.

For years, Saint-Tropez was synonymous with understated European chic, elegance, and the privacy of the global elite. However, in the era of Instagram and TikTok, the once-exclusive destination has transformed into a giant set for video shoots, where crowds of bloggers line up for coffee at branded pop-up cafes by Dior.

"The problem isn't even so much the influencers themselves, but what they turn beautiful places into. They literally scrape all the beauty off them for the sake of content, leaving scorched earth behind them like a swarm of locusts," social media users lament.

Soul-less Luxury and Sky-High Prices

Despite a wave of criticism from those nostalgic for the "real Saint-Tropez," the resort's popularity is breaking all records. According to a recent study by France Magazine, Saint-Tropez topped the ranking of France's most expensive beach destinations, with the average cost of a hotel night skyrocketing.

The resort has been completely overtaken by massive marketing campaigns from fashion houses. Every summer, global brands—from Gucci and Armani to Jacquemus and Loewe—stage aggressive takeovers of beach clubs, setting up branded loungers, monogrammed umbrellas, and even logo-emblazoned surfboards.

Two Sides of the Modern Riviera

While some tourists complain about lines, crowds, and the loss of historic Provençal charm behind narrow boutique-lined streets, others continue their chase for the picture-perfect shot.

Popular influencers like Alix Earle keep flooding social media with footage from yachts and parties, while crowds of fans try to break through to the clubs where Leonardo DiCaprio, Katy Perry, Victoria Beckham, and Kate Moss hang out. It has reached absurd lengths: tourists are willing to pay security guards hundreds of euros just for a chance to hand-deliver a note to a Hollywood star.

Saint-Tropez remains dazzlingly beautiful and coveted, but for dedicated fans of the old-school French Riviera, this gloss has become too fake, and the resort itself unrecognizable.

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