Pompeii to cap numbers

The Unesco World Heritage Site of Pompeii in Italy will limit the number of daily visitors to 20 000 from November 15.

The decision was taken after a record 36 000 tourists visited the site on the first Sunday of October, when entry was free.

Nearly four million people visited the main Pompeii site in 2023, a third more than the previous year. The visitor count had been climbing in the run-up to the pandemic. In 2023 numbers were already above pre-COVID levels, BBC reports.

It is unlikely that tourists will be turned away very often. A spokesperson for the park told Reuters that the number had only ever exceeded 20 000 visitors during free-admission Sundays and on three or four normal paid-entry days.

Entry tickets to Pompeii start from €18 (R340).