Venice, limits on tour groups: maximum 25 people will be allowed to roam the city

Venice vacation planned for next summer? Heed the warnings. As of June 1, 2024, a group visit consisting of more than 25 people will no longer be allowed in Venice. This is stipulated by a Resolution of the City Council approved on December 30, which amends the Urban Police and Safety Regulations by adding a new article dedicated to regulating the “modalities of conducting visits for accompanied groups, with particular attention to the needs of protection of residents and the promotion of pedestrian mobility.” The rule will come into effect after also getting the green light from the City Council.

The set number was chosen non-randomly, and this is evident from what was written in the official memo that gave the news: “The groups,” it reads there , “will not be able to exceed 25 people, or half the passengers of a tourist bus,” and it was chosen “also to give homogeneity to what already happens for the visit to the city’s civic museums,” explains Tourism Councillor Simone Venturini.

Specifically, the amendment to the Regulations provides for limiting the number of members of “groups accompanied by tour guides, escorts or other subjects in any case identified as the reference of the visit for the group in the historic center of Venice and the islands of Murano, Burano and Torcello,” and the use of loudspeakers that “may generate confusion and disturbance” and stopping at narrow streets, bridges or places of passage will also be prohibited. Those found using loudspeakers risk an administrative penalty of 25 to 500 euros, up to an urban daspo, with an order for immediate removal.

An unprecedented measure in form, aimed at regulating tourist flows in the lagoon that will undoubtedly impact tourism in Venice, as Councillor for Security Elisabetta Pesce imagines: “An important measure aimed at improving the management of organized groups in the historic center and the islands of Murano, Burano and Torcello, promoting sustainable tourism and ensuring the protection and safety of the city.” For Tourism Councillor Simone Venturini, the measure “is part of a broader framework of interventions aimed at improving and better managing tourism in Venice,” the result of “a series of steps and comparisons with categories and sector operators.”

“The administration,” comments the Councillor for Commerce, Sebastiano Costalonga, “wants not only to give precise rules for respecting the fragility of Venice, the viability and coexistence with those who live in Venice, but also to give a signal regarding the presence of unauthorized tour guides, which with this new article will no longer be tolerated. Regulating groups visiting the city will also and above all serve to ensure the certification of the guides accompanying them.”

Other prohibitions in effect as of June 1 include diving or swimming in the canals, walking in swimsuits and shirtless or riding bicycles (not even if hand-guided), feeding the birds (so iconic of St. Mark’s Square), eating sitting on the ground (for humans) or camping.

Recall, as is well known, that starting next April 25, the lagoon entrance ticket trial will begin with 30-day fees and then starting June 1 with all other access restrictions aimed at disincentivizing daily tourism during the times of the year with the greatest influx of people such as summer weekends, bridges or during attractive periods such as Carnival and the Film Festival. The approved schedule for 2024 for the 30 days includes the days from April 25 through May 1; all Saturdays and Sundays in May and June with the exception of the Republic Day weekend; and the first weekends of July through the 14th. The initial cost of the fee will be 5 euros per person over the age of 14 entering the ancient city for one day, and then can be adjusted as needed between 3 and 10 euros.

Entrance tickets will be bookable and purchasable from January 16 on the municipality’s official portal ’Venezia Unica’(https://www.veneziaunica.it/). And those who are exempt from paying, such as residents of Veneto, will still be required to book on the portal. No ticket to pay for those who will spend at least one night in accommodations located within the municipality.

It is good to remember that the ticket does not replace the tourist tax, which will therefore have to be paid per night per person according to the chosen facility (from 1 to 5 euros).

Venice, limits on tour groups: maximum 25 people will be allowed to roam the city

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