Venice is introducing measures to limit tourist numbers as residents hit out at crowds of daytrippers walking to slowing and blocking streets.
Huge numbers of visitors descend on the stunning Northern Italian city each year. At peak times, up to 80,000 tourists can be crowded into Venice’s historic quarter outnumbering the 50,000 residents.
Many experts believe that 2024 will see an even larger influx of visitors as Venice experiences a post-Covid renaissance.
Residents and workers in the city complain that large tour groups, along with their guides, frequently block pedestrian pathways.
Venetian photographer Francesco Allegretto told The Telegraph: “They move like great flocks of sheep, unaware of anyone else around.
“At times I feel that if I don’t get out of their way they’ll just run me down,
“They move so slowly, and spread out to fill the whole street.”
The size of organised groups in public places will be limited to 25 people beginning in June 2024 under the proposed measures.
In addition, unauthorised guides will face a crackdown from city officials. According to Trade Councillor Sebastiano Costalonga, the administration’s goal is to introduce: “strict rules respecting the fragility of Venice, its traffic flow and the interaction between visitors and those who live there”.
Travel experts have warned that 2024 could rank among the worst years ever for excessive travel.
International tourism reached a record high of almost 1.5 billion in 2019.
