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All the strict new rules to know about this summer in Italy from outdoor dining bans to daily tourist caps

FROM beautiful islands and incredible beaches, Italy has everything you need for a summer holiday – which is why it welcomes around 70million tourists in peak season.

Now, it’s cracking down on overtourism and is putting in place new rules that could affect your next break, from day trip fees to a lack of outdoor dining.

Cities like Venice are introducing tourist tax for touristsCredit: Alamy
Outdoor seating in Florence will be limited to clear the streetsCredit: Alamy

Tourist taxes

Plenty of Brits will flock to Venice this summer to see its incredible waterways.

For anyone taking a day trip to the city from other Italian hotspots, you will have to pay a tourist charge.

In 2026, day trippers will have to pay a fee if they visit from Friday to Sunday in April, May, June, and July.

The day trip access fee is €5 (£4.36) per person for anyone over age 14, if booked in advance.

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If a trip is booked less than four days in advance this increases to €10 (£8.72) – visitors can ‘reserve’ a day in Venice here.

You don’t have to pay the day trip tax if you’ve booked an overnight stay.

Another spot that has introduced tourist tax is the lower area of the Trevi Fountain in Rome.

The fountain in the heart of the city is known to be a beloved influencer spot, and to combat overcrowding, it’s introduced a Rome a €2 (£1.75) charge.

This charge applies daily from 9AM to 10PM (or 9PM depending on official updates) for access to the steps nearest the water.

But if you head to the upper piazza, viewing the fountain remains free.

Outdoor dining bans

While you can still enjoy eating outside in the sunshine, Florence has seriously cut down on the amount of outdoor dining.

In streets around Ponte Vecchio like Piazzale degli Uffizi and Via Roma, you won’t find any outdoor dining spaces whatsoever.

And around 73 other surrounding streets, there’s a restriction on the number of seats on the pathways in an effort to combat congestion.

While some restaurateurs aren’t happy with the new rules, locals have said the new rules are needed as the narrow streets can’t cope with the outdoor terraces.

Some said it had made roads unliveable, and like an “obstacle course”.

From April 1, 2026, Florence will also ban rental e-scooters in the city center.

Anyone taking a day trip to Venice will need to pay a tax feeCredit: Alamy

For more summer breaks – here are our favourite TUI holidays…

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Globales Montemar, Ibiza

This hotel sits on a quieter side of Ibiza, so you can soak up the island’s natural beauty away from the party crowds. This family-friendly option has a large pool that curves around the resort, surrounded by plenty of sunbeds, plus a kids zone. Here you’re just a 10-minute stroll from a horseshoe-shaped bay with clear waters.

BOOK HERE

Hotel Club Jandia Princess, Fuerteventura

This resort is set up like a small village, with low-rise buildings set among palm trees and six different swimming pools. Entertainment spans from DJ nights to bingo and live sports screenings, plus sports on offer include water polo, rifle shooting and shuffleboard.

BOOK HERE

Gavimar Cala Gran Costa Del Sur, Majorca

This hotel sits on Majorca‘s Cala Gran Beach, a beautiful cove just a short drive away from the coastal town centre, with its trinket shops and relaxed bars. The hotel itself has all the activities and entertainment you’d expect, including bingo and live music – as well as some unique extras like mini golf and archery. Week-long breaks start from £478pp.

BOOK HERE 

Riu Baobab, Senegal

The Riu Baobab is the only TUI hotel in the country, situated on the Pointe Sarane coastline. There are the four huge pools overlooking the beach, swim up pool bars and a copious amount of sunloungers to choose from. The sushi at the Asian Dorayaki and the pasta dishes at Veneto are the highlight meals of this standout hotel. Week-long breaks start from £883pp.

BOOK HERE

Tourist caps

The island of Capri is incredibly busy during the summer, seeing as many as 50,000 visitors each day during July and August.

To minimise disruption to locals, it’s introducing some new rules.

In order not to block the narrow streets on the island, etiquette similar to travelling on the tube has been requested for large groups – stay on the right on the way up and left on the way down.

When it comes to tour groups, each must be a maximum of 40 people in an attempt to control overcrowding.

And tour guides that lead more than 20 tourists at a time use wireless earpieces rather than loudspeakers.

Capri has as many as 50,000 tourists visit the island each dayCredit: Alamy

It’s not just Capri cracking down on the amount of tourists visiting at one time.

In the Dolomites, a ski resort called Madonna di Campiglio, has been limiting daily passes to 15,000 – rather than the usual 23,000.

In other places, a time slot is must be booked before entry, like the Via dell’Amore hiking path at Cinque Terre in the Liguria region.

Here’s more on Italy from one Sun Writer that visited one of Italy’s busiest towns off season.

And here are the insider tips from one writer who lives in Europe’s biggest tourist-trap cities.

Some of the busiest cities in Italy are introducing new rules to combat overtourismCredit: Alamy

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One of the world’s best airlines becomes latest to introduce strict new rules on travel item

ANOTHER airline is cracking down on passengers travelling with a certain travel item.

Singapore Airlines – often named one of the world’s best – has confirmed that new rules are being rolled out this month regarding the use of power banks onboard.

Bangkok, Thailand - May 24, 2018: Samsung Galaxy S7 Edge smartphone charging power via powerbank battery charger. Illustrative editorial image.
Singapore Airlines will only allow two power banks brought onboardCredit: Alamy

From April 15, travellers will only be allowed to pack two power banks in their hand luggage.

Anyone with more than two will have to surrender any other portable chargers before being able to board.

Not only that, but they must not be used onboard to charge any devices.

This follows on from previous rules that don’t allow the power banks to be charged using the onboard USB ports either.

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The USB ports must only be used to charge items like mobile phones and tablets, not power banks.

The Civil Aviation Authority of Singapore (CAAS) explained: “Power banks must also not be charged on board the aircraft and passengers are advised not to use power banks to charge their devices during the flight.

“ICAO’s new requirement of a maximum of two power banks per passenger and restrictions on the charging and use of power banks on board flights seek to reduce the risk of fire while catering for passengers’ travelling needs.

“In consultation with the airlines, CAAS will provide some time for the airlines to do so and for passengers to familiarise themselves and have the requirements take effect only from 15 April 2026.”

A number of airlines around the world have been cracking down on power banks being taken onboard.

One of the strict airlines is Air Busan, who has banned passengers from even taking them onboard.

This is because of an airline fire back in January 2025 which saw a plane decommissioned due to the damage caused by the power bank setting alight.

Airlines such as Emirates followed suit, with passengers only allowed to carry one power bank onboard and it must be under 100Wh.

Cathay Pacific and Singapore Airlines have similar rules as well, and ban the power banks being used onboard.

And airlines across Japan, Thailand, China and Australia are also affected by the power bank crackdown.

UK airlines are yet to follow these rules, with British Airways and Ryanair yet to introduce any similar bans.

All airlines still ban power banks being in any checked luggage – they must be in bags that go into the cabin.

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Passengers must also not use or charge the power banks onboardCredit: EPA

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UK’s most beautiful village brings in strict rules for tourists after locals mobbed

The village has been crowned the world’s most beautiful by Forbes and receives 20,000 visitors on weekends – but overtourism has caused serious problems

A UK village crowned the most beautiful in the world has moved forward in the fight against overtourism, with a huge cash boost and a raft of new potential measures.

Bibury, nestled in the Gloucestershire Cotswolds, is an undeniably charming spot. It boasts honey-hued stone cottages, a gently winding river, and a historic, fairytale-like atmosphere. Its allure led Forbes to name it the world’s most attractive village for 2025, approximately 150 years after poet William Morris declared Bibury “the most beautiful village in England.”

The cottages of Arlington Row are often hailed as the most photographed and breathtaking cottages in Britain. Built in 1380 as a monastic wool store, it was later converted into a row of weavers’ cottages in the 17th century.

It’s easy to see why Bibury garners such accolades, with accommodation options like the Swan Hotel and The Catherine Wheel pub both welcoming inside and festooned with climbing plants outside. The village’s charm has put Bibury firmly on the tourist trail. And now, some locals say, things are getting out of hand.

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Chairman of the local parking action group, Mark Honeyball, who has resided in Bibury for a decade, has had some rather unpleasant experiences with visitors. He revealed to the Express that he asked a coach driver to move on from some double yellow lines before drama unfolded.

He said last year: “I’ve been physically attacked four times now, but once really quite badly two weeks ago, I was kicked in the chest and stomach and kneed and punched in the face full force by a driver that I’d just asked simply to move on from double yellows at the top of the village.

“The coach drivers themselves are being pushed here by their coach companies, they don’t really want to be here, they find it really difficult to park. The tour operators are the key behind this, the coach operators are doing what the tour operators ask them to do, primarily with people from China, India, and South Korea at the moment.”

Up to 20,000 tourists flood into Bibury over weekends in the high season, with as many as 50 coaches arriving daily. That’s a staggering number for a village home to merely 600 residents.

This week, Gloucestershire County Council announced it was investing £175,000 in a project to combat ‘overtourism’ in Bibury, Punchline Gloucester reports.

Following the period of consultation, the county council is considering a series of measures to control the impact of tourism. They include:

  • Permanent removal of coach parking bays and implementation of on-street parking restrictions.
  • Additional enforcement of parking restrictions.
  • Introducing pay-and-display parking.
  • Restricting coach parking/waiting using enforcement officers to support traffic flow.
  • Exploring if there are improvements that can be made to local bus services including options such as park and ride.

Restrictions on coaches entering the village were implemented in May last year. At that point, parking bays in the heart of the village were shut and new public bus stop clearways were established. The objective was to put a stop to “unsafe coach manoeuvres.” Following the summer trial period, Gloucestershire County Council decided to implement permanent restrictions on coaches entering the area.

Cllr Lisa Spivey, leader of the county council, said: “Hopefully we are getting somewhere. We did a trial last year which has been extended where we essentially removed the coach parking bays in the centre of the village and created drop off and pick up points for coaches, so we are now going to make that a more permanent solution.

“They have currently got some red and white plastic barriers which don’t look very nice in a historic village so we want to make that look nice. We are going to introduce pay and display parking so we can pay for more enforcement to make sure people aren’t parking where they shouldn’t be and causing an issue.

“We’ve been working alongside the coach operators and other stakeholders to really encourage the use of smaller vehicles to come into the village. There’s been a huge amount of engagement with the coach operators, Cotswold Tourism, the parish council, businesses, the police etc. Lots of people have been involved.”

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