From Japan to Italy, more and more countries are planning to impose restrictions or additional fees on their visitors to certain cities in anticipation of the tourist season. Here are the places to watch.
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With 30 million visitors each year, the romantic city of Venice, Italy, is one destination that is starting to demand money, according to Sky News. In order to reduce the number of tourists, a fee of 5 euros (7.32 Canadian dollars) will be charged per person during the trial period, which will last throughout the summer.
For their part, representatives of the Canary Islands in Spain are in discussions to impose additional restrictions to combat excessive tourism. Island residents demonstrated last April, demanding that the government limit the number of travelers.
Due to the misbehavior of many tourists, authorities in Mount Fuji, Japan, have added a barrier near the mountain in hopes of stopping the rapid rise of visitors.
Other cities have instead chosen to close popular attractions, such as Machu Picchu in Peru in September 2023, as well as the Haiku Stairs in Hawaii in April. Maya Bay in Thailand has also been closed since 2018 in order to preserve the environment: more than 80% of the coral reefs in the bay no longer exist.
