Access to beautiful and rugged coastal area will be closed this summer once the number of visitors reaches 1.5 million in order to preserve the local culture

This article is more than 4 years old

This article is more than 4 years old

Italy plans to severely reduce the number of tourists visiting the Cinque Terre UN world heritage area this summer because the rugged coastal area risks being wrecked by coach parties and cruise ships.

About 2.5 million tourists poured into the picturesque park in north-west Italy’s Liguria region last year to visit the five small fishing villages, which are connected by narrow cliffside trails.

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Residents say day-trippers from cruise ships docking at nearby ports have overwhelmed their communities and the head of the Cinque Terre park said no more than 1.5 million visitors would be let in this year.

“We will certainly be criticised for this, but for us it is a question of survival,” Vittorio Alessandro told la Repubblica newspaper.

Roads leading to the area are being fitted with devices to gauge the number of people heading to the villages and once a certain number has been reached, access will be closed.

Tickets will be sold ahead of time online and an app created for tourists to show which of the villages are most congested.

Facebook Twitter Pinterest Roads will be fitted with devices to gauge the number of people in the five villages. Photograph: Christian Kober/Robert Harding World Imagery/Corbis

Accessed by steep, winding roads, the Cinque Terre, with their brightly coloured houses, used to be a remote backwater.

However, tourist numbers have risen sharply in recent years partly as a result of cruise companies adding more Italian destinations to their itineraries as other Mediterranean ports, such as Tunisia, lost their appeal following militant attacks.