1. Ending mass tourism
Trying to preserve the city of Venice, the Italian government decided to limit the number of tourists to discourage day-trippers. Over the past decades, Venice’s famous canals have become incredibly polluted due to mass tourism and the corresponding increase in boat traffic.
Venice’s mayor for social welfare, tourism and economic development Simone Venturini said the new measures look at limiting one-day-tourism and at the same time encourage slower tourism, SchengenVisaInfo reported.
Up until now, around 100,000 tourists were able to visit the City of Canals every day. But with the new limitations, all tourists will be required to pay a fee to stroll around Venice. Soon, the city will charge €5 to travellers and the tickets will be valid for one day only.
“The aim is to discourage one-day tourism, hit-and-run tourism, arriving in one day and leaving in the same day, tiring and stressing the city, and encouraging slower tourism instead,” explained Simone Venturini, the city’s deputy mayor for tourism. He said the new gates that will close the main access to historic centres have already arrived.
2. Surveillance
As of 2022, tourists roaming around Venice will be put under “special surveillance” since Venice’s local police will deploy five hundred cameras to monitor the flow of visitors. The equipment will broadcast live images from the streets in search of stray tourists.
“If I enter the data in the aggregated anonymous form, we can see exactly who these people are: 977 foreigners, 800 Italians, 135 residents, and 139 commuters,” revealed Maria Teresa Maniero, deputy commander at the Venice Police, as she explained how police officers were able to establish the identity of people in real-time using data from mobile phones. Nevertheless, Maniero said the system is set to allow local residents to move around freely.
