European town popularized by 'Game of Thrones' weighing tourist restrictions

While the Croatian seaport of Dubrovnik has always been an exceedingly well known tourist destination for its medieval architecture and head-spinning views of the Adriatic Sea, the city's true tourist heyday came after it became portrayed because the internet site of King's Landing contained in the hit HBO series "Game Of Thrones."

While the final season concluded in 2019, the show's global stardom has resulted in sustained tourist interest to both Dubrovnik and other locations used to film scenes from the show — different parts of Northern Ireland and Iceland for scenes set north of the Wall keeping apart fictional kingdoms.

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But amid the heightened tourism — 4.5 million overnight visitors came to Dubrovnik in 2023 irrespective of the particular undeniable fact that the city is healthier home to forty two,000 permanent residents — come challenges that a small city with historic architecture will never be any more any more always able to meet.

Dubrovnik to test new caps for tourist buses, taxis

As first reported by shuttle industry web pages online Skift, the city is weighing the launch of a "special traffic regime zone" to manipulate foot visitors through Dubrovnik's historic Old Town, as well to limit the choice of tour buses and taxis which may stop there around the world well known hours. The city began checking out it around the world peak days last summer and in addition put up electronic signs to inform visitors of high-traffic periods and compile data on how a lot of persons pass through around the world peak periods.

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"After the trial phase of the special traffic regime system began, as we during the past announced, we can continue to inform the public in regards to the collected data," Dubrovnik Mayor Mato Frankovic wrote in a Facebook (META) post. "From the introduction of the Special Traffic Regime Zone until at the present time, the common on day-to-day basis choice of vehicles is around 12,five hundred."

The choice of buses and taxis allowed to forestall contained in the Old Town area may even be slashed to simply 700 from the 9,000 currently stopping there at peak hours now. The general Old Town is designated as a UNESCO World Heritage Site.

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Other places taking steps to strive against overtourism

The city's deputy mayor of tourism Kelka Tepsic also clarified that local residents "can even be allowed to drive contained in the world, but cars with [foreign license] plates, almost like rental cars and taxis, and other vehicles, will no longer be permitted contained in the limited traffic zone."

Reasonably a number of cities, and in some cases entire countries in Europe, have been grappling to manipulate the implications of overtourism. The Italian canal city of Venice has been checking out a system in which sunlight hours visitors around the world peak weekend days contained in the summer had to pay 5 euros (this system became a seasonal one it truly is currently being evaluated for effectiveness ahead of being either scrapped or reintroduced for next year.)

Iceland, which has been feeling particular strain on natural areas well liked by tourists, has also recently introduced a tourist tax an awful lot like ones other nations work into either the electronic authorization needed to enter the u . s . a . or as a tax on one's hotel or vacation rental property stay.

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