Florence moans it has 'too many tourists' and issues new 10-point plan for UK visitors

A popular Italian city has moaned it has "too many tourists" and announced huge new rules. The Italian city has announced a 10-point plan to ban a number of items from its historic centre in a bid to combat overtourism in the European Union.

Florence has introduced a 10-point plan to ban a number of items from the historic centre in a bid to tackle overtourism. Aimed at improving the situation for local residents, the campaign, which will enter into effect in 2025, includes bans on key safes, golf carts and loudspeakers for tourism purposes.

Florence’s tourism figures are set to hit 15 million travellers in 2024. The plan also demands a requirement to display the holiday rental ID number outside properties; checks on tourism services; sustainable tourism campaigns and working with leading online travel agencies to encourage correct behaviour.

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It also wants a data-driven approach to short-term rentals; ongoing discussions with public and private stakeholders and setting up a commission to plan tourism policies are among the more overarching measures, too, organisers say.

In recent days, red crosses with the wording “Let’s save Florence so that we can live here” appeared on key safes around the city centre. The protest was directed at former mayor Dario Nardella, who held a conference titled “Against the G7 on tourism” at Palazzo Borghese in via Ghibellina, ahead of the G7 Ministers’ Meeting on Tourism that is being held at the Palazzo Vecchio on November 13 to 15. “It’s ridiculous that Nardella is holding this event to decry overtourism after he sold out Florence to major real estate investment funds,” the Salviamo Firenze group remarked to local newspaper Corriere Fiorentino.

According to ISTAT, the national statistics bureau, Italy saw its highest visitor numbers in 2023, with 134 million arrivals and 451 million people staying in hotels or other registered accommodations. The latest figures are in and they're official: a staggering 17 percent more tourists are opting for non-hotel accommodation compared to last year, according to the June ISTAT report.