Venice takes on badly behaved tourists

The city of Venice has launched a campaign aimed at reducing friction between its residents and visiting tourists who behave badly – a small percentage of the city’s 20 million annual visitors, but one that leaves a decidedly bad impression.

Already having declared war on pigeons that were taking over St Mark’s Square, the newest of the city’s initiatives is meant to alleviate the negative effects of mass tourism.

Large posters have been placed in prominent locations, asking visitors to Tenere La Città Pulita, to keep the city clean, according to Augusto Salvadori, the city’s councillor for tourism and ‘clean-up tsar.’

Many Venetians have expressed shock at the ill-mannered behaviour of some tourists, and are reminding visitors who use vaporetti, the water buses, to relinquish their seats to pregnant women and elderly passengers, and asking backpackers to remove their rucksacks before boarding.

Foreigners dodging fares are also being targeted, noted Salvadori, who has been charged with improving standards of ‘public decorum’ in the city. “The fight against fare dodgers will be unrelenting,” he said. “You won’t be able to board without showing your ticket, and we’re studying the possibility of installing turnstiles.”

The campaign began in 2006, with attempts to improve the image of the city as well as clamping down on ill-mannered tourist behaviour.

Thanks to www.telegraph.co.uk for the above quotes, for more information on this article please visit their website.

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