Tourists travelling to Venice will have to reserve their visits to the city's historic centre from this summer, the mayor Luigi Brugnaro announced on Monday. "Tourism starts again", tweeted the mayor, as crowds of tourists thronged the canal city over the Easter weekend, peaking at 160,000 visitors on Saturday.

Brugnaro described the move as "the right way" to manage the city's tourism better, stating: "We will be the first in the world [to introduce] this difficult experiment."The new booking system will come into effect this summer and in 2023 Venice will introduce an entry fee for day-tripper tourists arriving in the lagoon city.