POMPEII (AFP) – The world-famous Pompeii archaeological park introduced a daily limit of 20,000 visitors yesterday, the latest Italian tourist site to take action against overcrowding.
The “experimental” scheme will see visitors to the UNESCO World Heritage Site required to buy named tickets which, in the summer, will be divided into morning and afternoon slots.
The director of Pompeii Gabriel Zuchtriegel told AFP the measure was designed to better manage crowd numbers, leading to a more “sustainable” growth.
“The idea is not to close Pompeii but to expand Pompeii and better manage the flow,” he said at the launch of the scheme at the historic site near Naples in southern Italy.
Last year more than four million people visited Pompeii, an ancient Roman city buried when Mount Vesuvius erupted nearly 2,000 years ago.
This year is expected to beat this.
Some 3.84 million people visited between January and October – including a peak of more than 36,000 on one Sunday when entry was free.
Zuchtriegel said the numbers caused concerns about visitor and staff safety and about the protection of the unique site, where many of the buildings – and even some bodies of the estimated 3,000 victims – were perfectly preserved after the eruption.
“We want to guarantee all visitors a high-quality experience. It must never be mass tourism,” he said.
Limiting ticket numbers during peak season may seem bad for Pompeii’s budget but Zuchtriegel said the plan was to have “no negative consequences on takings”.
