Pompeii is a popular tourist destination in Southern Italy; a little too popular, some would say. In the face of overtourism, authorities have imposed a limit on the number of daily visitors allowed on the site to protect it from tourism activity. The cap is set at 20,000 a day, which went into effect on Nov. 15. Each visitor now needs a personalized ticket bearing their name to access the Pompeii archaeological park. In the summers, when the park is even busier, visitors will be assigned time slots.
Pompeii is one of the most well-preserved ancient Roman sites in the entire world. The ancient city was buried under ash when Mount Vesuvius erupted in 79 C.E. Centuries later, Pompeii offers a unique snapshot of day-to-day life in ancient Rome. In 1997, it was designated a UNESCO World Heritage Site as the only archaeological site to provide a complete picture of an ancient Roman city. With a third of the site yet to be excavated, Pompeii continues to garner the interest of archaeologists.
This past summer, a record-breaking 4 million visited Pompeii. The busiest day of the season saw 36,000 visitors. Concerned about the safety of the fragile site, park officials imposed the new cap.
Despite this new limit, however, the park will likely only need to turn away tourists a handful of times. A spokesperson for the park stated that the park rarely surpassed 20,000 daily visitors, the few times happening on the first Sunday of the month when the entry is free and three or four fee-paying days.