No Limits in Cinque Terre

Shades of the "no wheeled luggage allowed in Venice" story. Much ado about nothing.

Mike and Norma, a little help here would be welcome? I'm not seeing from the article that reports of the proposals were false or sensationalized to the point of being able to ignore them? Then again, working through a translation tool may be scrambling the issue a bit!

For instance, I'm seeing that the Regional Tourism Counsellor is refuting that a proposed pedometer to determine and regulate trail loads "will make it better serve the natural beauty of the Cinque Terre, but only to discourage tourist attractiveness." So he's against the idea but isn't saying that the CT President and Director didn't make that plan or that it's absolutely not going to happen?

I'm also not seeing indication of the same on the Undersecretary's blog (linked in the article). One quote regarding trail regulation and obligatory visitation cards:

"A solution that at first glance may appear drastic and damaging for tourism and the image of the Cinque Terre, but it is a measure made necessary by the excessive overcrowding, over 2.5 million tourists every year, featuring small villages Ligurian, unfit to implement such a large number of people simultaneously."

In short, I'm not finding anything which states unequivocally that no limitations will be imposed. No need for hysterics, certainly, but I'm curious what I'm missing here?

You are not really missing anything as the larger context is not presented. This news resulted from one comment within a public debate in the Region of Liguria and nothing has happened or will happen anytime soon. Unfortunately some media are running stories as though it's a fait accompli.

Thanks for the reply, Mike!

I'm still a little confused because some of the news pieces out there are lengthy enough and contain enough names and quotes to wonder how they could have been based on a mere tweet. But as you say, we're apparently not getting the larger picture so it's wait and see what happens!

I've learned a bit more about the situation since this news was posted in the other thread yesterday. Based on the link you posted, my impression is that someone leaked information about some of the measures that are being considered via a Tweet, and a Reporter decided to publish this without checking the facts. The fact is that nothing has been decided yet. This story has not only created confusion among tourists but also the locals, as even they don't have a clear idea on what's happening.

As with most situations in life, "money talks". The Ports of La Spezia and Livorno are likely making a tidy sum from the cruise ship lines, so limiting access to some areas or putting restrictions on their passengers is not going to be popular. Add to that the complexities of Italian bureaucracy, and it's likely that nothing will be decided anytime soon, although there could be minor changes.

It's probably safe to say that at least for this year, the status quo will be in effect, so there will be times when the towns and the trails are crowded. None of this will prevent me from visiting the area if that's where I decide to go this year.

Whew. At least I'm not the only one who is befuddled!
No, I wouldn't change my itinerary either if it included the CT.

Sorry but after seeing additional worried posts, I'm beating the dead horse one more time. This article should reassure potential visitors that all those news stories were truly sensationalist. The story quotes the President of the Region of Liguria as saying no to limiting the number of Cinque Terre visitors: http://www.ansa.it/liguria/notizie/2016/02/18/turismo-toti-no-al-numero-chiuso-alle-cinque-terre_c76f9067-1777-4f0c-a28b-b4689901ffa9.html

Mike,

Thanks for posting the update. I'm not really too concerned about the situation, so haven't been following it.

The article mentions investments in the La Spezia cruise ship terminal, so it appears their focus is more on the cruise ship passengers than alleviating the over crowding problem in the five towns.

I'm not overly concerned either - was more curious than anything about how (rumored) proposals would be carried out - but thanks a bunch for the article!

The Cinque Terre park is a national one, not regional. He can disagree, but he is only one of the local stakeholders and not the one that can take the final decision. I have no doubts he wants new investments on the cruise terminal at La Spezia, and then? Good luck in getting the money from Rome...

The park can limit the number of people that hikes the trails at the same time, I guess they hope that less people on the trails means less people in the cities.

Let's wait and see.

dario,

My point exactly - let's wait and see. Nothing is "written in stone" yet, so there are many ways this situation could evolve.

Sasha, reference this thread for more info and discussion:

https://community.ricksteves.com/travel-forum/italy/bad-news-for-cinque-terre-visitors

And this latest post (a good one):

https://community.ricksteves.com/travel-forum/italy/latest-news-regarding-visitors-to-cinque-terre