Florence, an Italian city of fewer than 400,000 residents, hosted nearly nine million overnight visitors in 2023, and an additional 1.5 million day trippers. The city is developing new measures to make the tourism burden more bearable for those who live there.
Credit...Susan Wright for The New York Times

Golf Carts, Loudspeaker, Lockboxes: Florence Bans Tourism Headaches

The popular Tuscan destination is the most recent European city to consider measures aimed at making life in a tourism hot spot more bearable.

by · NY Times

Leaders in Florence, Italy, have unveiled a new plan to tackle problems with tourism in the Tuscan city, which has been a prime destination for leisure travelers for more than three centuries.

The 10-point plan was announced earlier this week — the same week that Florence is hosting a meeting of high-level tourism officials from the Group of 7 nations (Britain, Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan and the United States). The timing was not a coincidence.

“We’re sending a clear message to G7 leaders that there is a need for rules and tools to deal with an ever-growing tourism that cannot and must not undermine the quality of life of residents,” Sara Funaro, the mayor of Florence, wrote in an email.

Here is what travelers need to know about the measures.

What is Florence aiming to ban?

The proposal includes a ban on the use of lockboxes outside accommodations within the city’s UNESCO-listed historic center (in response to both aesthetic and safety concerns). There are also bans on golf carts, rickshaws and other “atypical vehicles” for the purposes of tourism; amplifiers and loudspeakers used by tour guides will also be prohibited. Such measures are intended to ease challenges in some of the city’s most crowded areas.

“The data that we always remember is that 95 percent of the tourist presence in Florence is concentrated in five square kilometers, which are those that suffer the most from tourist pressure,” Jacopo Vicini, Florence’s councilor for economic development and tourism, said in a statement.

Other points in the plan aim to improve data sharing, policy coordination and consultation with local residents and businesses on tourism.

“The message we want to give is that we care about our city, and we care that Florence can be attractive, but above all livable for residents,” Ms. Funaro said. “Our primary objective is to ensure that our city can maintain its roots, its nature and its identity.”

Why is this coming now?

Florence — a city with about 367,000 residents — hosted nearly nine million overnight visitors in 2023, as well as an additional 1.5 million day trippers. And the mayor’s office says that those numbers are ticking up: More than 7.8 million overnight visitors were recorded in just the first nine months of this year. For some, that’s too many.

“There are so many people that it’s impossible to walk and enjoy the city center,” said Giulia Giannattasio, a Florence resident and the receptionist at the Hotel Bella Firenze, a three-star hotel near the train station. Ms. Giannattasio added that the city is crowded “every day of the year,” and that she sees many visitors — especially younger American tourists — who seem to come only to party and get drunk.

“It’s bad for the residents because they can’t sleep at night, they don’t feel safe, and they don’t go out at night,” she said.

Ms. Funaro, the mayor, acknowledged that “coexistence between residents and tourists has become increasingly complex” since the pandemic, noting that the pressures are greatest for the residents of the city’s historic center. She also acknowledged recent protests targeting tourist lockboxes used to access short-term vacation rentals — in which hundreds of lockboxes in the city center were covered in red tape. This is an issue “that we’ve been addressing for a long time,” Ms. Funaro said.

When will the measures take effect?

Florence authorities have approved the proposal, but some of the measures, including the bans on lockboxes, atypical vehicles and loudspeakers, require further approvals or changes to city regulations before they come into force. The mayor’s office indicated that such measures should take effect at the beginning of 2025. Other points in the plan, including a communication campaign on sustainable tourism, are already underway.

How will the new measures affect visitors to Florence?

Most visitors to the city will see little immediate impact, although bans on loudspeakers, golf carts, rickshaws and the like could make for a more pleasant travel experience, especially in crowded areas. Visitors who opt for a short-term apartment rental in Florence’s historic center will also find that property owners use something other than a lockbox to allow them to gain entry to their accommodations. Instead, the host might greet them in person.

For Marco Verzí, the president of the Florence chapter of Federagit, a national association of tour guides and tour managers, the banning of the lockboxes is at once a question of maintaining the city’s historic identity — and ensuring security.

“If you’re not checking who is getting access to the apartment, then whoever made the booking can forward the information to someone else, and you can’t control who has access to the apartment,” said Mr. Verzí, who has been a tour guide in Florence for two decades.

“We have been waiting for some of these measures for three years,” he added, speaking of the new plan. “We’re just happy to hear that the mayor is protecting the city from some evident threats — for residents and for tourists.”

Paige McClanahan is the author of “The New Tourist: Waking Up to the Power and Perils of Travel.”

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