Venice halts new hotels

In early June, the city of Venice, Italy, banned the opening of new hotels in the city center in an attempt to stem the tide of tourists flocking to the city each year. The ban does not prevent new hotels from opening on the outlying islands or on the mainland. 

Each year, Venice, which has a population of 55,000, attracts nearly 30 million tourists. At the time of the new hotel ban, the city center had 25,400 rooms for let. 

In addition to the moratorium on hotels, Venice — in order to better maintain its cultural heritage — has banned new fast-food and kebab restaurants from opening in the city center and has limited the number of restaurants that are allowed to sell pizza by the slice.