Italy Capri wants fewer tourists on the island

The much-visited Mediterranean island of Capri wants to let fewer tourists ashore.

The ferries from the Italian mainland, which currently arrive on the island off Naples every ten minutes during the high season, will soon sail less frequently.

It is being discussed that in future arrivals will have to be at least 20 minutes apart so that there are no longer so many traffic jams in the port. However, the final decision on whether the ten-minute rule for ferries, which has been in place since 1990, will be overturned is still pending.

Capri is one of Italy's most visited destinations. The island, which has fewer than 15,000 permanent residents, attracts tens of thousands of visitors a day in the high season. But even last weekend - long after the end of the main tourist season - more than 30,000 tourists were counted. Last year there were more than 2.7 million in total. The crossing from the mainland, usually from Naples, takes about an hour. This is excellent business for several ferry companies.

In view of the masses of day visitors, Capri's mayor Peppe Falco has also called for a new law that would give local authorities more freedom to manage the flow of visitors. In several Italian vacation destinations, complaints about too many tourists have been increasing for some time. Venice is now trying to counteract this with a fee for day visitors. In Florence's old town, the city council is taking action against the rental of apartments via platforms such as Airbnb.

SDA