Sawt Falasteen - Pompeii rejects 'mass tourism' with daily visitor limit

The "experimental" scheme will see visitors to the UNESCO World Heritage Site required to buy named tickets which, in the summer, will be divided into morning and afternoon slots.

Gabriel Zuchtriegel, the director of Pompeii, told AFP the measure was designed to better manage crowd numbers, leading to a more "sustainable" growth.

"The idea is not to close Pompeii but to expand Pompeii and better manage the flow," he said at the launch of the scheme at the historic site near Naples in southern Italy.

Last year more than four million people visited Pompeii, an ancient Roman city buried when Mount Vesuvius erupted nearly 2,000 years ago.

This year is expected to beat this.

Some 3.84 million people visited between January and October -- including a peak of more than 36,000 on one Sunday when entry was free.

Zuchtriegel said the numbers caused concerns about visitor and staff safety and about the protection of the unique site, where many of the buildings -- and even some bodies of the estimated 3,000 victims -- were perfectly preserved after the eruption.

"We want to guarantee all visitors a high-quality experience. It must never be mass tourism," he said.

Limiting ticket numbers during peak season may seem bad for Pompeii's budget but Zuchtriegel said the plan was to have "no negative consequences on takings".

The park hopes to tempt visitors to other sites nearby, with the idea that if only an afternoon ticket is available for Pompeii, a tourist might decide to spend the morning elsewhere.

Zuchtriegel said efforts were also underway to open alleyways and streets in Pompeii that are currently closed, which would provide more space for visitors and allow organisers to raise the 20,000 daily limit.

"It is not a measure against growth. We are focusing on sustainable growth, lasting over time," he insisted.

Between April 1 and October 31, a maximum of 15,000 visitors will be allowed in from 9:00am to 12:00pm, and 5,000 from 12:00pm to 5:30pm.

Many Italian tourist hubs have taken steps to tackle overcrowding, from Venice -- which introduced a five-euro ($5.3) entry fee for day trippers during peak periods -- to the Cinque Terre, where walking the celebrated "Via dell'Amore" or "Path of Love" requires a ticket.

C.Hamad--SF-PST