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A popular Mont Blanc hiking circuit could introduce a reservation system following calls from French authorities to control overcrowding.

The Tour du Mont-Blanc, a 170-kilometre (105-mile) trail that passes through France, Italy and Switzerland and circles the highest mountain in Western Europe, is walked by around 80,000 people each year.

Mayor of Saint-Gervais-les-Bains, Jean-Marc Peillex, told Swiss public broadcaster SRF that groups of hikers are now forced to walk too close together.

The mayor is calling for restrictions on route access from spring 2027 amid claims of littering and disrespectful behaviour.

If proposals are successful, travellers taking on the Tour du Mont Blanc in several French municipalities will have to reserve a place in a hut or an authorised bivouac zone in advance.

A bivouac zone is a designated, legal outdoor area where hikers and climbers can set up a temporary, lightweight camp overnight.

The classic Tour du Mont-Blanc circuit takes between seven and 11 days to walk.

Peillex said: “Today we’re moving along in single file. People can only see the backsides of those in front of them. That’s hardly ideal”, reported Euronews.

He added that anyone who finds the accommodation is fully booked will have to postpone their plans to reduce footfall on the trail.

Saint-Gervais-les-Bains sits at the foot of the French side of the Mont Blanc massif, around a one-hour drive south-east of Geneva, Switzerland and is one of the largest stops on the route.

The town is a major rail arrival point for hikers to reach the trail and Tramway du Mont-Blanc.

Joachim Rausis, mayor of Orsières in Switzerland, has also called for better regulation of the trail: “There are warning signs, and we need to regulate things. But above all we need coordination between Switzerland, Italy and France,” he said in a statement to Euronews.

Read more: Croatia announces new protected nature park filled with hiking trails