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Venetians and tourists welcomed new rules introduced on Thursday limiting the size of tour groups, the latest move to reduce overcrowding.
Tour groups are capped at 25 people, and guides are not allowed to use loudspeakers to direct pedestrians and provide a quieter environment for residents.
“I think it’s right,” said 81-year-old local Eddie Rupert.
“It’s better to reduce it a little bit. Because you can’t walk along the narrow canal streets when there are so many people,” she added, saying that the situation was even worse when she needed to use a shopping cart.
In April, Venice became the first city in the world to introduce a payment system for tourists, an experiment aimed at discouraging day-trippers from arriving at peak times.
Sebastian Fagarazzi, co-founder of the “Venezia Autentica” (Real Venice) tourism enterprise, said more action was needed.
“From that point of view, it may be a good decision, but it is not enough. Over the past 70 years, tourism in Venice has driven away 72% of the residents, and now only 28% are left,” he said.
Venice’s historic center had more than 170,000 residents in 1954. Last year, the number fell to 49,000, according to city authorities.
“So it’s not enough to organise smaller tours or ask people to pay a small tourist tax. We have to rethink tourism to support local communities,” added Fagarazzi, whose organisation aims to support a more sustainable tourism industry.
The restrictions, which cover the city centre as well as the islands of Murano, Burano and Torcello, have been welcomed by some tourists.
“Yeah, I think it’s good. I mean, a lot of places are very, very crowded,” said Mark Cole of Scotland.
“Especially yesterday when we went to St Mark’s Basilica and saw the queues were so long, so I think it needs to be managed, that’s probably the best way I can think of to describe it.”
Read more by Euractiv
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