Venice to ban large tourist groups and loudspeakers

Venice is to ban loudspeakers and tourist groups of more than 25 people, in a bid to ease the impact of mass tourism on the Italian city, Azernews reports citing BBC.

The new rules will come into effect from June, the city said in a statement.

The use of loudspeakers have been banned as they can "generate confusion and disturbances", it added.

Over-tourism is widely recognised as an urgent issue for the canal city, one of the most visited places in Europe.

In September, Venice approved the trial of a €5 ($5.35) fee for daily visitors.

Elisabetta Pesce, the official with responsibility for the city's security, said the latest policies are "aimed at improving the management of groups organised in the historic centre".

The city is just 7.6 sq km in size but it hosted almost 13 million tourists in 2019, according to the Italian national statistics institute. Numbers of visitors are expected to exceed pre-pandemic levels in the coming years.

Earlier this year Unesco said the city should be added to a list of world heritage sites in danger, as the impact of climate change and mass tourism threaten to cause irreversible changes to it.

In 2021, large cruise ships were banned from entering the historic centre of Venice via the Giudecca canal after a ship crashed into a harbour. Critics had also argued that the ships were causing pollution and eroding the foundations of the city, which suffers from regular flooding.