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STRICT new rules could affect your European city break this summer, with one destination in particular keen to reduce the number of tourists. An average of around 25 million people visit the Italian city of Venice every single year, which local officials feel is far too many. Therefore they have imposed the new measurements, which will ban tour groups of more than 25 people.

Loudspeakers have also been banned in the city, because officials claim that they cause both "confusion and disturbances". The new rules were brought in on Saturday, June 1 and are the latest in a string of attempts by the city to bring tourist numbers to a more manageable level. Loudspeakers are often used by tour guides to communicate with their groups, who they lead through the narrow streets and bridges throughout the canal city .



Those tour groups will no longer be able to exceed 25 people from now on, which it is hoped will reduce the number of people heading to the city each day. The measures were first announced back in December with officials saying they wanted to improve life for residents in the city. At that time, Simone Venturini, the city's councillor for tourism, said: "We need to find a new balance between the tourists and residents.

"We need to safeguard the spaces of the residents, of course, and we need to discourage the arrival of day-trippers on some particular days." The new rules will also apply to the nearby islands of Burano, Murano , and Torcello, which are easily reached by boat.

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