Venice tells tourists to ditch water bottles and drink from fountains

Tourists to Venice are being urged to ditch single-use plastic water bottles and drink from fountains, in the latest attempt from local government to cut down on pollution.

Tourism is responsible for up to 40 per cent of the waste produced in the Italian city, the local council told AFP.

With visitor numbers returning to pre-pandemic levels, Venice authorities have been looking for ways to limit the impact of mass tourism.

A local marketing campaign is set to encourage the millions of people who visit every year to avoid purchasing or bringing plastic water bottles to the city.

The campaign will include a map of where drinking water fountains are located across Venice.

It will show the city’s 126 drinking fountains and 60 additional fountains on nearby islands. According to locals, these fountains can be found every 100 metres.

For those who want to access a similar map ahead of the campaign launch, a private project, Venice Tap Water, has already created and released a map of drinking water fountains located on the islands.

Local businessman Marco Capovilla founded Venice Tapwater in 2019, in an effort to encourage the use of the city’s fountains and reduce plastic pollution.

The new campaign is the latest attempt to move towards a more sustainable model of tourism in Venice.

Earlier in the year, large cruise ships were banned from the Venetian lagoon.

Meanwhile, from next year, daytrippers to the city will be charged an entry fee and forced to pre plan their visit.