Venice Tackles Overtourism by Telling Visitors to Follow the Golden Rule – Skift

Venices residents have fled the city en masseas too much tourism hastaken its toll on infrastructure and daily life. But the city finally thinks it has a winning strategy to bring it back from the breaking point: Tell tourists to live by the golden rule.

In short: Treat the city like you would want visitors to treat yours.

Earlier this month, the citys government and tourism board, Venezia Unica, launched the #EnjoyRespectVenezia campaign aimed at telling tourists how to behave when theyre exploring the city.

But this is far from a being adestination marketing campaign for the city.

Rather, the campaign is reinforcingrules and regulations that have been in place for years and telling tourists that theyll potentially face hefty fines of $29-$580 (25 to 500) if they dont follow them.

Sitting on the ground in iconic St. Marks Square or below theProcuratie Nuove, for example, is forbidden under city regulations. Its also forbidden to hinder circulation of traffic on bridges and alleys, according to the city.

Cycling in the city center and swimming in the citys canals are also forbidden and illustrated as such on the campaigns official signage that will be posted throughout Venice (see sign below).

Swimming, littering, wearing swimwear, giving or scattering food, cycling and camping are forbidden activities in Venice.

The campaign is also promoting good tourist behaviors such as discovering the citys hidden treasures, exploring nearby islands in Venices lagoon, or visiting a food market and sampling local produce.

Telling travelers to visit new places or hidden gems would only be a temporary relief, of course, if that message reaches most travelers andthey actually listen.

Eventually, the hidden gems will no longer be hidden either.

The city is also sharing a map of authorized accommodationsand a map of restaurants and public restrooms.

The tourism board has produced a few YouTube videos for #EnjoyRespectVenezia, albeit in Italian and without any particularly compelling messaging or creative.

Signs and posters, which will be displayed in 10 languages including English, Chinese, Arabic, and Korean, will be placed throughout the city center and main tourist zones. The city has also highlighted the campaign on some of its main attractions such as Saint Marks Belltower, pictured below.

Venices residents and city council have increasingly grown agitated with overtourismin the city center during the past few years. They havefought to keep larger cruise ships outand proposed other measures to limit or regulate tourism.

Its not clear how wide of a reach this campaign will have beyond the physical posters throughout the city and travelers who happen to stumble upon the social media hashtag.

Venice seems to understand that it wont be able to tell travelers to stop visiting its unique attractions and canals, but it is trying to tell them how to show respect and behave around those attractions when they are in the destination.

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Venice Tackles Overtourism by Telling Visitors to Follow the Golden Rule - Skift