Yet Another Iconic Italian Destination Plans to Introduce a Tourist Fee
It's part of an effort to curb overtourism.
Following Venice's recent example, another Italian town might be putting up metaphorical walls soon in the attempt to fight off overtourism.
The lakeside city of Como—which, as you might have guessed, sits right on the iconic Lake Como—might soon impose a tourist fee for daily visitors. As of right now, how much the fee would amount to hasn't been clarified.
The timing for when the new measure would go into effect isn't clear either, but Como Mayor Alessandro Rapinese said representatives are already trying to draft up more guidelines.
"We are already discussing the idea [of a tourist tax]," Rapinese said, as reported by The Times. "Revolutions begin with concrete measures and we are ready for this long journey."
The initiative comes as overtourism is on the rise in some of Italy's most popular locations. Lake Como attracts more than one million tourists per year, making it one of the most visited destinations in Italy, and while it surely benefits the economy, it creates a problem for local residents.
"There has been a real explosion of the phenomenon [of second homes and b&b], as it has happened in other tourist destinations," Fabio Dadati, the president of the local enterprise Lariofiere, told Italian magazine Panorama last year, as reported by Express. "This has emptied the historic center [of its residents]." Among other issues, this led some primary schools' classrooms to struggle to fill up.
Overtourism in Lake Como is also affecting cultural sites and tourist experiences. Villa del Balbianello, which was featured in both the James Bond and Star Wars franchises, was forced to lower daily entries from 2,000 to 1,200 in order to help fight off the impact that overtourism has on Lake Como.