Venice Tourism Checkpoints Are a Sign of Europe’s Fractured Approach to Overtourism
Photo Credit: Venice is installing tourism checkpoints to try to manage traffic flow in the city. Flickr.com / Davide Gabino
Skift Take
For a city that's afraid of becoming a theme park, it's certainly starting to look more like one with turnstiles and fast passes to get in the door. The summer travel season is just starting to heat up.
Venice launched a marketing campaign last July that told tourists to respect the city and explore it responsibly as residents demanded action from local government officials to manage overtourism.
Less than a year later, it appears the softer approach hasn't worked and the city has installed tourist turnstile checkpoints at main entry points to divert visitors along separate routes.
Some residents last week protested the turnstiles (see photos in tweet below) and feel their city is increasingly becoming a theme park. Some of the turnstiles were removed by protesters, but have since been restored.
On peak days the average numbers of tourists in Venice, some 60,000, eclipse the number of city residents at 55,000.
Last month, Venice Mayor Luigi Brugnaro announced an ordinance that was in effect from April 28 to May 1, a busy holiday weekend in Italy, that set up multiple checkpoints to inspect identification of people wanting to enter the city. Residents and tourists with V
