Venice tightens rules on group visits

Venice has introduced a cap on tourists groups to 25. This is the newest measure to be put in place to combat overtourism and overcrowding.

After banning cruise ships from docking in its historic quarter in 2021, the iconic city of Venice, became the first European city to trail a system where daytrippers to Venice must pay a fee of  €5 (£4) to visit.

This Italian city with its atmospheric canals, its colourful romantic squares and gorgeous winding streets attracts around 30 million a year with 21 million only visiting for the day.

At peak tourism times the sheer numbers of people can be oppressive. And the locals are not happy. They find themselves having to navigate crowds of visitors, who are attracted by the romantic fantasy of gondalas and classical music, and end up blocking streets, and holding up footfall with incessant selfie-taking. Popular sights such as St. Mark’s Basilica have excessively long queues.

In 2023 Venice narrowly escaped being placed on UNESCO’s danger list because of the damage from overtourism on its delicate ecosystem. 

Though the day tripper levy trial has come to an end the city raised 2 million euros in tourist taxes. Now the city has introduced a new measure to combat overtourism by limiting the size of tourist groups to 25 people per group.

The idea is to make the flow of pedestrians easier especially through the narrow canal side streets. Another caveat is that no blaring music will be tolerated and tour guides are being told that they cannot use loud devices to address their groups since Venetians complain that they destroy the peace.

The restrictions apply to the city centre, and the islands of Murano, Burano and Torcello. Anyone breaking the rules will be fined 25 to 500 euros though children aged 2 and under or those travelling for education purposes, such as a school field trip are exempt.