Capri is ‘sinking’ under weight of mass tourism
Mayor seeks ways to manage influx of visitors as queues clog up the island
ONCE a byword for exclusivity and sophistication, Capri is at risk of “exploding” under the weight of mass tourism, the island’s mayor warned yesterday.
The tiny Italian island, which sits in the Bay of Naples, was renowned as the exclusive haunt of Hollywood stars and literary figures such as Graham Greene and DH Lawrence, but it is now swamped by two million tourists annually.
At the height of summer, up to 15,000 visitors arrive every day, many of them cruise ship passengers and package tourists who are led around in big groups.
Eighty per cent are daytrippers who arrive by boat from Naples and Sorrento, clogging the narrow alleyways and tiny piazzas of the island’s main settlement, also called Capri.
“Capri could explode – you can’t fit a litre and a half of water into a one-litre bottle,” Giovanni de Martino, the mayor, told The Daily Telegraph. “We welcome tourists but two million a year is a bit too much.”
Capri faces the same problem as Venice, Dubrovnik, Santorini and the Cinque Terre coastline of northern Italy – they are victims of their own beauty, so popular that tourists run the risk of overwhelming the very things they come to see.
Mr de Martino has recently been in touch with mayors in the Cinque Terre and Venice to share ideas on how best to manage the challenges of mass tourism.
Capri, he says, needs to better manage the influx of tourists, starting with the ferries and hydrofoils that bring people to the island.
Under decade-old regulations, there should be at least 10 minutes between the arrival of one vessel and the next, giving time for tourists to disembark and disperse in
‘Capri could explode – you can’t fit a litre and a half of water into a one-litre bottle’
Marina Grande, the island’s harbour. But ferry companies are constantly flouting the rules, the mayor said, unloading too many tourists during the morning rush hour. On one occasion recently, three large boats docked in eight minutes, disgorging 800 day-trippers.
Tourists then face lengthy queues for buses, taxis and the funicular railway that can whisk them from the harbour up to Capri Town. Another way of easing the pressure is to try to persuade people to spend at least a night on the island. That way, they have more time to venture further from the crowds of Capri Town.
“People don’t have the opportunity to see the beauty of the island. They waste much of their time queuing,” said the mayor.
It is possible to escape the milling crowds – strike off along a quiet road or path and you will come across Roman ruins, tiny vineyards and stunning views of Capri’s sheer limestone cliffs and soaring rock formations.
“We don’t want to limit arrivals and we are very reluctant to talk about a fixed number of people being allowed to visit the island each day. But we do want people to come at a less frenetic pace,” said Mr De Martino.
Capri and other destinations are feeling the strain because tourism is booming in Italy, as fears about terrorism and civil unrest put people off destinations such as Egypt, Tunisia and Turkey. Unlike the UK, France, Belgium and Germany, Italy has not experienced a terrorist attack.