Venice is to ban loudspeakers and tourist groups of more than 25 people, in a bid to ease the impact of mass tourism on the Italian city.
The new rules will come into effect from June, the city said in a statement.
The use of loudspeakers has been banned as they can “generate confusion and disturbances”, it added.
Over-tourism is widely recognised as an urgent issue for the canal city, one of the most visited places in Europe.
In September, Venice approved the trial of a €5 (£4.30; $5.35) fee for daily visitors.
This is the best summary I could come up with:
Elisabetta Pesce, the official with responsibility for the city’s security, said the latest policies are “aimed at improving the management of groups organised in the historic centre”.
The UN cultural body’s experts blamed the Italian authorities for a “lack of strategic vision” to solve the problems faced by one of Italy’s most picturesque cities.
Italian Culture Minister Gennaro Sangiuliano said Unesco had recognised attempts to address the island’s problems via an anti-flooding system and by the approval of the entry fee for tourists.
The picturesque fishing of Portofino, on the Italian Riviera, has brought in no-waiting zones in photogenic spots, with Instagram-happy tourists facing fines of up to €275 (£238) if they linger too long for that perfect selfie.
Away from Italy, Athens in Greece capped visitor numbers at the iconic Acropolis to 20,000 a day, to try to reduce damage to the ancient temple complex.
And in the Austrian Alps, the town of Hallstatt - said to have inspired the setting of Disney film Frozen - has built wooden barriers to block views in popular spots for a lakeside snap, on top of capping the number of tourist buses and cars entering the area.
The original article contains 575 words, the summary contains 195 words. Saved 66%. I’m a bot and I’m open source!
Good thing I can whisper.
That’ll be 3 Lira
Not being obnoxious and entitled is good enough, but it’s a concept hard to grasp for some tourists so they’re being specific.
Drat
June? Why not tomorrow?
Possibly to give the tourism sector enough notice. Lots of people plan their trips almost a year ahead, if there are changes like this it’s fair everyone knows beforehand
Unless a remote location, tourist groups should be banned everywhere. Also the people that choose go on them.
Yes! Imagine a group of people wanting to experience something together?? Outrageous, ban them!
They don’t really do anything. They see the catered for attractions, on schedule, with no freedom, pissing off the public along the way. Hence things like this obviously happen.
You want to do something with a group of people? So, go do something with a group of people. Don’t do it with tourist guide companies. If you struggle to fathom such a simple concept, you probably shouldn’t be travelling amongst other cultures and areas yet before reading a bit first. That should be Step 1 of touring anyway, just in case that concept somehow has eluded anyone. It’s called basic respect.
How exactly are you going to decide which locations and which kind of groups are or aren’t allowed? I understand your frustration—having lived in Amsterdam for some time, the tourism really got under my skin—but realistically I think the better approach is to prohibit specific things that are causing annoyances, like using loudspeakers (or, in the case of Amsterdam, beer bikes). Another way to deter tourism is by increasing tourist taxes.
I just read and ask locals or online communities, these often tell you the tourist traps to avoid, which are mostly on a company guide list. All the while how to act, what not to.do, what to look out for,.etc. It’s a much more enriching experience. If not with friends,.I’ve teamed.up with backpackers, hotel strangers, and locals I’ve met at bars or online to go around seeing/doing things and exploring.
Tour guides aren’t needed. Nor their buses, speakers, queue cutting, vantage point hogging, street blocking, etc.
Oh, completely agreed; generally I avoid such things in much the same way.
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I specifically remember my first visit to Venice. I remembered going to a church to see the art. All the tourist were relatively quiet compared to the security person screaming to us to be quiet using a louspeaker. He used his louspeaker to make the loudest SHHHHH sound imaginable and them followed up with scream to us that “This is a church, everyone must be quiet”.
Overall it was a terrible experience.
Did that church happen to be the Vatican? Lmao
They do that there, guy in the holy temple repeating over the speakers every few seconds to take no photos, don’t loiter, and be quiet. BLARING ACROSS THE SPEAKERS, great stuff.
Ahh yes. On the same trip we went to see the Sistine chapel and those security did the same thing to us. We weren’t even next to the security guys but wow. Dude was annoyingly loud. Even the people trying to pray was looking up annoyed at the security guard.
Also unless you’re doing an extremely long exposure, you ain’t getting any photos in there.
Fairly sure it’s just on a loop
