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Locals continue to ask tourists to not come to their overcrowded city.
It's been a month since local authorities announced their controversial plans to erect electronic gates at the city's main access points in order to regulate tourist traffic on the popular island city. Before the pandemic, Venice had an estimated 30 million visitors per year — this equals over 590 visitors per resident. These numbers play a huge role in the erosion of the city's economic and social fabric — as well as its rapid depopulation. The city's combined system of charging entry fees, allowing online bookings, and installing turnstiles to control tourist access to the island was first tested, to much controversy, in 2018. The plan was then shelved due to the pandemic. It is now set to be put in place again in 2022.
Venice mayor Luigi Brugnaro sees this as the "only solution." But the proposal is widely unpopular, and many believe that it is destined to fail.