The beautiful city of Venice is loved too much by worldwide tourists, with authorities having had to implement several different measures in an attempt to reduce the number of visitors and improve the way of life for its decreasing number of residents.
Residents in the Italian city have lamented overtourism has turned Venice into an “amusement park”, with many now describing it as “unlivable”. They say Venice is now on the brink of collapse, with “disgusting” streets and “crazy prices thanks to the estimated 30 million that descend on the 160-square-mile city each year. London, by comparison, is 607 square miles.
In 2023, UNESCO warned that it could be added to its World Heritage Site danger list due to the “irreversible” impacts of mass tourism and climate change. Its report included overdevelopment and rising sea levels as top concerns.
Among the major causes for concern were the huge cruise ships and the pollution they were causing to Venice’s canals. Therefore, in 2021 these ships were banned from entering the historic centre via the Giudecca canal.
According to research by Transport & Environment, sulphur dioxide emissions dropped by 80 percent in the Italian lagoon since the ban.
This summer, authorities also introduced a five euro (£4.20) tax for day-trippers entering Venice between 8.30am and 4pm. In the first 11 days of its introduction, this tax raked in nearly one million pounds. However, it was deemed a “resounding failure” due to the fact that thousands still flock to the city. According to city councillor Giovanni Andrea Martini, the number of tourists had actually grown by 5,000.
“On Sunday, we had 70,000 visitors, compared with 65,000 on an equivalent day in the same period last year. This was a measure that was heralded as a way of reducing tourist arrivals but it has resoundingly failed,” Martini said.
The city’s diminishing population bitterly contested the day-tripper tourist tax, arguing that the only way to achieve sustainable tourism would be to target the people who stay overnight by clamping down on short-term holiday lets and improving services for the permanent population. In 2022, the number of residents fell below 50,000 for the first time.
“There is no control over things like Airbnb,” Stefano Croce, vice-president of the tour guide association for Venice, told The Guardian. “So many of my friends have left and our offspring are leaving, too.”
The latest set of measures introduced by the local government on August 1 saw Venice limiting the size of guided tour groups, which make up an important part of tourists, to 25 people. Guides have also been banned from using loudspeakers. Those who break the rules risk fines between £21 and £422.
The measures, approved unanimously in February, are aimed at preserving “the needs of residents and the promotion of pedestrian mobility” both in the city and its surrounding islands, the city council website explains.
However, it appears these new measures have also failed to solve the problem. According to The Guardian, one tour guide was left deeply unimpressed with the latest endeavour.
“I don’t think it was a very smart move. For example, I have 24 people with me, the other 25 are over there,” Alejandro said. “It would be nicer to all be together – instead, the guide in the first group is doing the talking and I’m just making sure we don’t lose each other.”
It appears, therefore, that instead of discouraging so many tourists from visiting the city, many groups are simply splitting in two, making it harder for the limited numbers of tour guides.
“It’s not easy to find guides to take care of more than one group – we have a busload of 50 tourists but only one guide,” another tour guide told the news outlet. “It’s early days but, much like the entrance fee, I doubt it will change a thing.”