Guides will no longer be able to use small megaphones but only systems with earphones. Guides Association: “This is the right choice, but the important thing is the ability to enforce it”
By Carlo Mion
December 31, 2023
Tour groups with guides in Venice can have no more than 25 people. This was decided by the Council at its last meeting.
“It’s an important step towards less impactful tourism, but the decision needs to be enforced. For us it’s a positive decision that can create jobs and reduce illegal activity”, explains Carlotta Vincenti, president of the Venetian Association of Tourist Guides.
The resolution modifies the Police and urban security regulation and sets a limit on the number of members of groups accompanied by tourist guides, companions or other subjects identified as reference points for group visits in the historic center of Venice and on the islands of Murano, Burano and Torcello.
Groups cannot exceed 25 people, i.e. half the passengers on a tourist coach. The use of megaphones, which can cause confusion and disturbance, will also be prohibited. Once approved, the measure, which will have to be examined by the City Council, will come into force on June 1, 2024.
“This is an important measure aimed at improving the management of organized groups in the historic center and on the islands of Murano, Burano and Torcello, promoting sustainable tourism and guaranteeing the protection and safety of the city”, commented the security councilor, Elisabetta Pesce.
“This provision is part of a broader framework of interventions aimed at improving and better managing tourism in Venice, thus guaranteeing a greater balance between the needs of those who live in the city, either as residents or as workers, and those who come to visit the city” commented the Tourism councilor, Simone Venturini.
He continued: “This provision is the result of a series of steps and discussions with categories and operators in the sector. A limit was therefore introduced on the number of participants in tourist groups and the use of amplifiers, and stopping groups in narrow calle, bridges or passages was prohibited. The number of 25 people was also decided to be consistent with what is already happening for visits to the city’s civic museums.”
Guides have long been asking the agencies to be able to work with smaller groups precisely to create less impact on the city and its inhabitants. That request went unheeded not least of all because the agencies that organize buses for 50 visitors save quite a bit by taking one guide for everyone.
“For us it is important not to be an obstacle to those who live in the city. We work much better with smaller groups, and we don’t block bridges and calle”, underlined Vincenti. “We believe this is a small but significant step to begin to make tourism less impactful on the city. At the same time it creates new jobs, and if the controls are carried out and function, they will also limit the activity of people who offer to accompany tourist groups for free, despite not having the right to be considered a guide”.
There could be problems for groups that speak particular languages such as Bulgarian, Danish and Swedish, as there are not many guides who speak these languages.
“Regulating the groups that visit the city in order to create a greater balance between tourists, residents and economic operators is something we agree with”, commented Alvise Canniello, director of Confesercenti Metropolitana Venezia Rovigo, “It’s a provision that represents a further attempt at the complex management of tourist flows and which, at the same time, can also be the tool to control and monitor the phenomenon of unauthorized tourist guides”.
Source: La Nuova di Venezia e Mestre
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