<p>Tourist magnets like Kyoto, which on Tuesday announced plans to hike lodging taxes, and Venice, are on a crusade to deal with surging visitor numbers.</p><div class="paywall-selector"></div><div class="paywall">



<p>Here we look at some measures being taken worldwide to ease the pressure on bursting beaches and gridlocked streets:</p>



<h2 class="wp-block-heading">Chock-a-block city centres </h2>



<p>Venice, one of the world&#8217;s top tourist destinations, is trying to limit the influx of tourists into its historic centre by charging day trippers for entry.</p>



<p>Rolled out for 29 days between April and July in 2024, the pay period will be extended this year to 54 days.</p>



<p>Rome has also clamped down on crowds around its iconic Trevi Fountain, limiting visitors to 400 a day after previously attracting hoards of up to 12,000.</p>



<p>Authorities there are also mulling charging an entry fee.</p>



<p>In Spain, the second most popular tourist destination in the world behind France, several chock-a-block cities have made moves to appease their disgruntled inhabitants.</p>



<p>The Basque seaside town of San Sebastian now limits tourist group numbers to 25 people and guides are not allowed to use loudspeakers.</p>



<p>Barcelona, nestled on the coast of the Mediterranean, has done the same, with organised groups allowed a maximum of 20 and no megaphones.</p>



<h2 class="wp-block-heading">Stemming cruise flows </h2>



<p>The jewel of the Adriatic, Dubrovnik in Croatia has seen a huge surge in visitor numbers since scenes from the series &#8220;Game of Thrones&#8221; were filmed on the ramparts of the medieval walled city in 2011.</p>



<p>In 2019 local authorities limited the number of cruise ship arrivals to two per day, with no more than 4,000 passengers at a time.</p>



<p>Amsterdam, among its many initiatives to fight overtourism, has pledged to halve the number of river cruise ships in the city within five years. </p>



<h2 class="wp-block-heading">Maya Bay: paradise lost </h2>



<p>Made famous by the Leonardo DiCaprio movie &#8220;The Beach&#8221;, Maya Bay on the Thai island of Koh Phi Phi Ley has been ravaged by years of mass tourism, swamped by some 4,000 daily visitors.</p>



<p>In a bid to restore its devastated coral reefs, the beach was closed for nearly four years from 2018, reopening in 2022 with new rules for visitors.</p>



<h2 class="wp-block-heading">Lascaux caves: replicas </h2>



<p>Discovered in 1940, the Lascaux caves in France have been described as the Sistine Chapel of prehistoric art, containing nearly 2,000 paintings.</p>



<p>Tourists have been barred from visiting the original site since 1963 because the carbon dioxide they exhaled was damaging the paintings.</p>



<p>But three replica sites, built between 1983 and 2016, allow visitors the chance to admire the spectacular cave while preserving the original.</p>



<h2 class="wp-block-heading">Fuji fee </h2>



<p>Besides Kyoto, Japanese authorities have also taken steps to control access to Mount Fuji, introducing an entry fee of 2,000 yen ($13) and a daily cap on hiker numbers.</p>



<p>In a town near Mount Fuji in May 2024 authorities mounted a large barrier at a popular viewing spot next to a convenience store in an bid to deter photo-taking.</p></div>

Some measures being taken worldwide to ease the pressure on bursting beaches and gridlocked streets.

Replica landmarks and tourist taxes: How visitor hotspots are fighting back against overtourism

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Replica landmarks and tourist taxes: How visitor hotspots are fighting back against overtourism | Fortune Europe

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