Venice May Limit Tourist Numbers

Venice is beloved for its romantic architecture, its grand canals, Carnaval celebrations and for its overall charm — but tourism officials in the iconic Italian city are concerned it might be loved to death.

Italian newspaper La Stampa reports a commission is reviewing some options to solve overcrowding issues and hope to have a plan implemented in early 2017. Some options being floated include a ticketing system to control visitor numbers.

Tourism councillor Paola Mar told the paper, “Venice is always beautiful, but all the more so when you can see the monuments in your photos, and not just strangers’ heads.”

An estimated 20 million people visit Venice annually, while the town itself has just 54,000 residents. The increase in numbers put a strain on infrastructure like bridges and walkways in a city already prone to crumbling infrastructure and flooding problems.

Of late, tourists are coming in increasing numbers by cruise ships, which drop off daytrippers by the hundreds. A cruise ship ban was proposed and overturned in 2014.