Venice is another leading city for tourism which is reassessing its ability to cope with the pressure of increasing visitor numbers.
After years of complains from locals, the city is finally giving serious consideration to placing limits on the number of people allowed into its historic centre.
A similar measure went into effect earlier this year to alleviate overcrowding in the Cinque Terre villages along the Italian Riviera.
Every year the city greets some 22 million tourists. The number swamps that of the historic centre which has but 55,000 residents.
Venetian authorities are contemplating the launch of online and smartphone app booking to control the flow of tourists, according to the daily newspaper La Stampa.
A special commission is reported to be studying at least seven proposed solutions with a view to implementation of some control mechanisms by early next year.
Already in place is a scheme to put locals before tourists when using the crowded water buses. From April this year, local passengers carrying a special ‘gold card’ were given priority boarding.
So far this year, visitor numbers are up by 5% over 2015 and tolerance is wearing thin for many of the centre’s inhabitants. During the height of the holiday season in mid-August, flyers were posted around Venice demanding “Tourists, go away! You are destroying this area”.
The arrival of massive cruise ships continues to irk many residents, concerned that movement of water caused is damaging the historic buildings while the thousands of passengers they disgorge cause excessive pressure on historic bridges.
Both locals and authorities are increasingly fed up by criminal and unruly behaviour in public. The mayor has threatened harsh treatment.
“I insist on introducing special powers to the city to uphold public order. Pickpockets, vandals, drunks! A night in the cells,” he tweeted earlier this year.
