New tourist limits get warm welcome in Venice

By Alex Fraser

VENICE, Italy (Reuters) - Venetians and visitors alike welcomed new rules introduced on Thursday to limit the size of tourist groups in the latest effort to reduce overcrowding.

Tourist parties will be capped at 25 people and guides will be barred from using loudspeakers to help the flow of pedestrians and make it more peaceful for residents.

"I think it's right," said 81-year-old local Edie Rubert.

"It would be better to reduce it more. Because you can't walk along the narrow canalside streets when these groups are there," she added, saying it was even worse when she needed to use her shopping trolley.

In April, Venice became the first city in the world to introduce a payment system for visitors in an experiment aimed at dissuading daytrippers from arriving during peak periods.

Sebastian Fagarazzi, co-founder of the 'Venezia Autentica' (Authentic Venice) Tourist Enterprise, said more action was needed.

"It's probably a good decision in that regard, but it's not going to be enough. Tourism in Venice has pushed out 72% of the inhabitants in the past 70 years, so 28% only remain today," he said.

Venice's historic centre had more than 170,000 residents in 1954, according to city authorities. Last year, they were down to just over 49,000.

"As a consequence, it's not enough to just make smaller groups or, for example, ask people to pay a small tourism tax. What must be done is to rethink tourism in order to support the local community," added Fagarazzi, whose organisation aims to support more sustainable tourism.

The restrictions, which cover the city centre and also the islands of Murano, Burano and Torcello, also got a thumbs-up from some tourists themselves.

"Yeah, I think it's good. I mean, it's very, very congested in a lot of places," said Mark Kerr, visiting from Scotland.

"In particular, yesterday we were at the St. Mark's Basilica and the queues were massive to get in, so I think there's a need to manage it, is probably the best way I can describe it."

(Additional reporting by Manuel Silvestri; Writing by Keith Weir, editing by Alvise Armellini and Giles Elgood)