Venice bans large tourist groups and loudspeakers

Venice

New rules banning loudspeakers and limiting tour group sizes to 25 people have come into force in Venice.

The measures have been introduced to limit the impact of over-tourism on the Italian city, officials say.

The canals of Venice's historic quarter make the city one of the most visited places in Europe.

Venice introduced a €5 (£4) daily entry fee earlier this year, after initially banning cruise ships from docking in the quarter in 2021.

Over-tourism is widely regarded as one of the most urgent issues for Venice, which has a population of around 250,000 people and saw more than 13 million visitors in 2019.

Visitor numbers have fallen since, but they are expected to exceed pre-pandemic levels in the coming years.

Venice has seen an exodus of local residents over fears tourists could overwhelm the historic island city.

Ocio, a citizen's association tracking housing in the city, said in a recent update that the historic quarter had around 49,000 beds for tourists to rent - more than the number available for residents.

The changes to tourism rules come after experts from Unesco warned last year Venice could be added to a list of world heritage sites in danger, as the impact of climate change and mass tourism threaten to cause irreversible changes to it.

The UN cultural body did not add Venice to the list in the end, after recognising attempts to address the island's problems via an anti-flooding system and measures to reduce the impact of mass tourism.

BBC