Reeling under overtourism, Venice considers new restrictions on visitors
Venice, Sep 20 (IBNS/NITN): The familiar view of tourists resting or eating on church steps or squares in Venice could be a thing of the past with the authorities considering a ban on it.
Such activities could be made illegal and fines between EUR50 and EUR500 slapped on offenders if the ordnances, which is now before the city council, is passed, news agency ANSA reported.
Tourists could even be expelled from the city that sees millions of footfalls every year, in particularly serious cases of offending the city's "decorum", the report said, citing sources and added that such offenders could be banned from the lagoon for life.
Earlier this year, Venice had restricted tourists to several of the landmarks as part of its self-preservation plan, to combat the impact of the estimated 30 million tourists annually.
The Venetians have been demonstrating against unrestrained tourism in recent times. The romantic city on the Italian lagoon also has the problem of the huge cruise ships anchoring to let hundreds of leisure travelers a day to explore the city.
The local populace is only 55,000 in number and they were complaining about losing their neighbourhood ambience.
The mayor’s office in Venice last year had planned to introduce a ban on new tourist accommodation. In addition, they had announced monitoring agencies to check overcrowding and pinpoint areas that see high concentration of visitors.
Rome had announced a ban on eating near its numerous beautiful fountains or paddling in the water. Milan too has taken steps to preserve its old quarters from getting spoiled by insensitive tourism.
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