Pompeii introduces a limit of 20,000 visitors per day

The famous archaeological park of Pompeii introduced a limit of 20,000 visitors per day on Friday, the latest among Italian tourist sites to take measures to deal with overtourism.

“These are essentially security reasons, both for visitors and staff, but also for the protection of heritage” which led to this measure, Gabriel Zuchtriegel, general director of the site, told AFP, while nearly 4 million people visited Pompeii in 2023.

“As the low season begins, we have the opportunity to experiment with this measure. We want to guarantee all visitors a quality experience, it must never be mass tourism, quality must always be at the center,” he insisted.

Several other sites or cities in Italy have already introduced measures to combat overtourism.

Venice has therefore introduced paid entry to visit the City of the Doges for the day. In 2024, this measure concerned 29 busy days between April and July, but in 2025 it will be extended to 54 days.

The famous “trail of love” winding between land and sea in the Cinque Terre park (north-west) reopened in July after long works, but visitors now have to pay five euros.

And on the bridges of Florence, in Tuscany, graffiti “Tourists go home!” (Tourists, go home!).

The limit of 20,000 people per day is a measure to achieve “sustainable growth”, underlines Mr Zuchtriegel.

His idea is to expand the area of ​​Pompeii that can be visited, as well as the neighboring archaeological areas, so as to ultimately be able to accommodate more than 20,000 visitors in safe conditions.

This project “will make it possible in the short term, I am convinced, to review this figure which is, I repeat, experimental, and to decide whether we must adjust it according to a constantly evolving situation,” added the director .

Listed as a UNESCO World Heritage Site, Pompeii, the second most visited tourist site in Italy after the Colosseum, covers a total area of ​​approximately 22 hectares, a third of which is still buried under ashes.

The volcanic ash spewed 2000 years ago by Vesuvius settled on most of the homes in Pompeii, which allowed them to be almost completely preserved, as did many of the bodies of the 3000 deaths caused by the catastrophe.