Officials in Rome are considering bringing in charges for tourists hoping to visit one of the city’s most popular attractions.
The Trevi Fountain, which millions of tourists visit each year to toss a coin into for good luck, could begin to charge visitors €1 (84p) and control access times in a bid to mitigate the effects of overtourism.
The measures come as cities across Italy and Europe continue to wrestle with how best to manage an industry vital to many local economies against the backdrop of protests focused on the negative impacts of mass tourism.
Alessandro Onorato, Rome’s deputy mayor in charge of tourism told Corriere della Sera: “I would be in favour of examining a new type of access, limited in time and with a fixed number (of visitors), with a reservation system.”
The mayor’s office stressed that the measure was not to make money but to control the safety of visitors and prevent tourists from eating ice creams or pizzas on the steps.
Venice is another Italian city struggling heavy from the impact of over tourism. Residents in the city have complained that the city is becoming “unliveable” and like “an amusement park”.
Other causes for concern were the huge cruise ships and the pollution they were causing to Venice’s canals which led to these ships being banned from entering the historic centre in 2021.
According to research by Transport & Environment, sulphur dioxide emissions dropped by 80 percent in the Italian lagoon since the ban.
This summer, authorities also introduced a €5 (£4.20) tax for day-trippers entering Venice between 8.30am and 4pm.
In the first 11 days of its introduction, this tax raked in nearly one million pounds. However, it was deemed a “resounding failure” due to the fact that thousands still flock to the city.
According to city councillor Giovanni Andrea Martini, the number of tourists had actually grown by 5,000.
The city’s diminishing population bitterly contested the day-tripper tourist tax, arguing that the only way to achieve sustainable tourism would be to target the people who stay overnight by clamping down on short-term holiday lets and improving services for the permanent population. In 2022, the number of residents fell below 50,000 for the first time.
“There is no control over things like Airbnb,” Stefano Croce, vice-president of the tour guide association for Venice, told The Guardian. “So many of my friends have left and our offspring are leaving, too.”