Venice plans to implement measures to alleviate the impact of mass tourism on the city, including a ban on loudspeakers and restrictions on tourist groups exceeding 25 people.

The new regulations are scheduled to take effect from June, with the city citing the potential for "confusion and disturbances" as the reason for prohibiting loudspeaker use.

Recognizing over-tourism as a pressing concern, Venice had previously approved a trial fee of €5 for daily visitors in September.

Elisabetta Pesce, the official overseeing city security, stated that these latest policies are geared towards enhancing the management of organized groups within the historic center.

The city is just 7.6 sq km (2.7 sq miles) 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.

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