MALE tourists in France are being threatened with $A60 fines for walking around without their shirts on.

Locals in seaside resort towns including Cannes and St Tropez demanded the move after they were sick of seeing Brits and other tourists displaying their "hairy chests" in the streets, The Independent reports.

Inland cities such as Perpignan , in the south of France , followed the move and introduced a dress code banning bare chests for the first time.



Women wearing bikini tops in the streets could also face the fine if they failed to cover up when asked to by cops, authorities said.



The tough laws came into force after locals were shocked by a group of British rugby fans who took off their shirts while watching a match.



"We're not saying there has been a general moral decline, but some people have complained," Perpignan security chief Pierre Parrat said.



Barcelona's tourism board put up signs earlier this year telling tourists to the Spanish city not to walk the streets in bikinis or shirtless, and a woman sunbathing topless in Italy was questioned by police last week after a mother complained that the way she was applying suntan lotion was "troubling" her two young sons.