Italian authorities have announced they will introduce limitations on the number of people allowed into Venice, in an attempt to reduce mass tourism in the City of Canals.
Previous data showed around 100,000 tourists were able to stroll through the city’s squares every day up until now. But in a few weeks, it will no longer be possible to visit the city freely.
In 2022, travellers will only be able to visit the city once they have booked their €5 tickets online. The tickets will only be valid for one day, with the aim of limiting the number of entries.
“The aim is to discourage one-day tourism, hit-and-run tourism, arriving in one day and leaving in the same day, tiring and stressing the city, and encouraging slower tourism instead,” explained Simone Venturini, the city’s deputy mayor for tourism.
The future gates of Venice have already arrived and will close the main accesses to the historic centres.
Five hundred cameras will be monitoring the flow of visitors, constantly broadcasting images from the streets in search of stray tourists.
The police will also be able to establish the identity of people in real-time thanks to data from mobile phones.
“If I enter the data in the aggregated anonymous form, we can see exactly who these people are: 977 foreigners, 800 Italians, 135 residents, and 139 commuters,” revealed Maria Teresa Maniero, deputy commander at the Venice Police.
However, the system is also set to allow local residents to move around freely.
