Rome’s tourism vice-mayor, Alessandro Honorato, met today with the journalists of the Italian Foreign Correspondents’ Association, to discuss the issue of mass tourism, which, of course, also concerns the Eternal City.

“Without a law from the Meloni government, we cannot limit short-term rental properties to tourists, neither in terms of their duration, nor their total number. Our goal is that these leases are not limited, almost only to the historic center, but to have a balance with other areas of the city as well”, emphasized Onorato.

Responding to a question from APE-MPE, regarding the increase in tourism, he added: “In Greece, you have managed to drastically combat the phenomenon of illegal, short-term rental of real estate, thanks to efficient cooperation with internet platforms that deal, legally, with the activity she. In our country, we have succeeded only to a certain extent. We want to deepen the cooperation with your country, both at the level of the government and the Municipality of Athens”. It is noted that the head of Tourism of the Municipality of Rome has already met with our ambassador in Rome, Eleni Sourani.

At the same time, Alessandro Honorato confirmed to APE-MPE that the pilot plan for “a visit with a reservation and payment of a small amount of money” will soon be presented to Rome’s famous fountain “Trevi Fountain”. “This is not an initiative aimed at monetary gain, but at a predictable, reasonable visitor presence. We will not close the square, but there will be a planned access to the space directly in front of the fountain. At this particular point, the capacity normally does not exceed two hundred and fifty people, while in this phase, during peak hours, they exceed five hundred”, emphasized Onorato.

He also expressed his satisfaction that over thirty-six million local and foreign tourists visit the Italian capital every year. “In the last two years, there has been an impressive increase in young people and visitors choosing luxury hotels,” said Rome’s tourism vice mayor. Finally, he asked for the understanding and patience of permanent residents and non-residents, for the works being carried out in the city center, in view of the Holy Year of the Catholics, in 2025, while he did not hide that “the great challenge is to preserve the authentic character of the small and big cities, their traditional activities, at a time of continuous increase in world tourism”.