Venice is capping tourist group sizes and placing restrictions on tour guide activity in the latest bid by the world-famous lagoon city to protect its UNESCO heritage from the negative impacts of over-tourism.
Trial of tourist charge this year
Faced with more than 30 million tourists per year, 70% of whom are day trippers, in a city that has fewer than 50,000 permanent residents, Venice’s city hall had already introduced a tourist tax, or “contributo di accesso” to get into its most popular areas on 29 of its peak season days during spring and summer 2024. This move required visitors on those dates to register in advance, pay the five-euro fee, and show their access codes or exemption credentials to newly-trained enforcement staff.
But residents were unimpressed. A chorus of complaints from locals ensued, with critics saying the charge makes the city feel like a theme park and is an invasion of privacy for those who live there and want to move around the place or receive guests. Naysayers also pointed out that the “gently gently” approach in the introductory phase of the charge meant that it was not sufficiently enforced and that visitors found ways around it.
The effect of the charge on visitor numbers is still being assessed but initial analysis suggests it did not succeed in dissuading visitors from coming to the city on overcrowded days. As a result, local authorities have already said the charge is likely to increase next year.
Large group tours and loudspeakers not welcome
And in another new move, the municipality has now banned tourist groups of more than 25 people, in an effort to ensure it is easier to circulate among the plazas and narrow streets of the so-called “Serene City”. A further bid to maintain that serenity and protect “the peace of residents” means that tour guides will no longer be allowed to use loudspeakers to make themselves heard to clients.
Fines of 25-500 euros ($27-541) will be levied on those who do not comply. However, there are some exemptions to the new protocols. Children under the age of two years old are not counted as part of the groups of 25. What’s more – and providing another potential loophole for the unscrupulous to exploit, visiting students or anyone who can prove they are on an “an educational trip” will also be able to join group tours without being part of the new head count.
