The pretty European city introducing new 2024 tourist ban due to overcrowding fears | Travel News | Travel

Venice has announced plans to ban loudspeakers and large tourist groups in a bid to prevent overcrowding in its city centre. The popular holiday spot in Italy sees thousands of tourists each year, with officials planning measures to keep crowds at bay.

The move will prohibit tourist groups of 25 and more and will ban loudspeakers that locals call a “disturbance”. Plans were announced on Saturday and are set to come into effect from June.

In a statement, officials said the move will “respect the fragility of Venice”. It is a provision that is part of a broader framework of interventions aimed at improving and better managing tourism in Venice, thus guaranteeing a greater balance between the needs of those who live in the city, either as residents or workers, and those who come to visit the city,” the city’s security councillor Elisabetta Pesce said.

The councillor for commerce, Sebastiano Costalonga, added: “The administration not only wants to give precise rules for respecting the fragility of Venice, the traffic, and coexistence with those who live in Venice, but also give a signal regarding the presence of unauthorised tourist guides, which with this new article will no longer be tolerated.”

The new measures came after the city introduced a fee for day tourists. The new €5 (£4.34) per person fee will be applied on 29 peak days between April and mid-July, which include most weekends.

Large cruise ships were also banned from entering Venice’s historic harbour in 2021 after a ship crashed. The city is just 2.7 square miles in size but sees millions of tourists flock to the centre each year.

Unesco recommended Venice be added to the list of world heritage sites in danger in July due to the impact tourism has had on the city.

The organisation said it has seen “irreversible” damage from the overwhelming numbers of tourists visiting.

Combined with overdevelopment and rising sea levels due to climate change, the city is at risk of severe damage if new measures are not imposed.