Day-trippers face a Venice tour ban
Officials in Venice are reviewing plans to cap the number of tourists visiting the lagoon city. Photo: Getty Images
Tuesday September 01 2009
Venice is considering a radical scheme under which it would restrict the number of visitors to the city by banning day-trippers, helping it cope with the crush of tourists.
Its authorities are calling for "drastic decisions" to stop Venice from being clogged by the daily influx of visitors who crowd its narrow alleyways and Renaissance squares. It is estimated that there are 20 million every year.
One proposal is that visitors will have to have a hotel reservation to secure entry.
Enrico Mingardi, who is in charge of public transport for the lagoon city, is proposing that tourists should have to pre-book visits.
"There's a need to study a project where there is a cap on the number of visitors," he said. "If you have a booking, you can come in; if not, you can't. There is a physical threshold above which we cannot go."
He said Venetians could "no longer tolerate the discomforts" of mass tourism.
Mr Mingardi did not say how the booking system would be enforced, or whether tourists without hotel, museum or boat trip reservations would be turned away. But he said the council would initiate discussions with tourist associations and residents groups to explore the idea.
A council spokesman said the idea had been discussed a number of times.
"It's always proved very controversial because it goes against the democratic principle that anyone should be able to come to Venice," he said.
Venice's population is soon expected to dip beneath 60,000 -- the number of inhabitants some see as crucial for it to survive as a functioning city rather than as a vast open-air museum. (©Daily Telegraph, London)
- Nick Squires in Rome
