After Venice, Pompeii is also protected. Tickets to visit ruins buried by Mount Vesuvius to be capped at 20,000 a day.

After Venice, Pompeii was put on the agenda. This summer, a record 4 million people visited the remains of the ancient Roman city, which was buried under ash and rock after the eruption of Mount Vesuvius in AD79. Archaeological park officials are working on projects to relieve human pressure on the site, which could pose risks to visitors and the unique and fragile heritage. The first step was to limit the tickets.  Pompeii will restrict visitor numbers to 20,000 daily and introduce personalized tickets from next week to cope with over-tourism and protect the world heritage site.

The archaeological park’s director, Gabriel Zuchtriegel, said visitors to the leading site now exceeded an average of 15,000-20,000 every day, and the new daily cap would prevent the numbers from rising further.

From 15 November, tickets to the park will be personalized with visitors’ full names. A maximum of 20,000 will be released daily, with specific time slots during summer.

The park’s managers encourage tourists to visit other ancient sites connected to Pompeii, including Stabiae, Oplontis and Boscoreale., by providing a free shuttle bus under the Greater Pompeii project.

“The measures to manage flows and safety and the personalization of the visits are part of this strategy,” Zuchtriegel said. “We aim for slow, sustainable, pleasant and non-mass tourism and, above all, widespread throughout the territory around the Unesco site, which is full of cultural jewels to discover.”

In April, Venice became the world’s largest tourist city, charging people to enter as part of a trial to dissuade day trippers due to return next year. The €5 levy, which applied on 29 peak days and ended in July, was also an emergency response by local authorities to avoid blocking the Unesco heritage site.