The city of Dubrovnik, Croatia
The city of Dubrovnik, which was used as a scenario in Game of Thrones, is adopting several measures to revive the local spirit after years in which he suffered from excess tourism.
Limit the number of visitors, refuse cruise money, and even ban your routs with wheels.
The mayor of Dubrovnik, Croatia, Mato Franković, has adopted radical measures for his city, one of the most visited by tourists in Europe, to be a place where their residents can live and visitors can enjoy.
The British newspaper The Telegraph did not measure words when evaluating the city in 2018: “Tourism killed Dubrovnik“Wrote journalist Greg Dickinson.
His verdict accompanied the alert made by UNESCO in 2016 that the city’s medieval stone walls could stop being a worldwide heritageif the city did not better manage tourist activity.
Known as “Adriatic Pearl“Dubrovnik’s old town is a perfect postcard. It’s been a popular stopping point for cruise ships, travel packages and economic airlines, not to mention filmmakers.
For the tens of millions of people who accompanied Game of Thrones (2011-2019), Dubrovnik was the Main City of the series (Porto Real, or King’s Landing) and the scenery of Queen Cersei Lannister’s famous “Walk of Shame”. But all this popularity has a price.
With the number of visitors surpassing local residents due from 27 to 1Dubrovnik became known as one of the most overcrowded cities of tourists in Europe.
In recent years, the excess of tourists has led many important cities in Europe to take action to revert.
Venice, in Italy, now charges a one -day visitors. Barcelona, Spain, has limited the beds in hotels and Amsterdam in the Netherlands is restricting Airbnbs.
But nowhere was it as far as Dubrovnik, which established a rigid maximum limit of people who can visit their walls at a time.
“Mass tourism does not benefit everyone in Dubrovnik,” says the city’s mayor, Mato Franković. “At first, he feels he is gaining, but in the end, he is actually losing in quality of life and services.”
“It’s simply a lost game. That’s why we reverse everything. ”
Control system
Since taking office in 2017, Franković has created initiatives to control the flow of tourists in the city.
In addition to limiting the number of cruise ships in two a day (the peak was about eight), Franković forced the ships to DISCOVER FOR AT LEAST EIGHT HOURS. This measure enables passengers to have time to explore the city at ease and spend more money, rather than hastily visiting the sights.
The city also manages the flow of visitors, using the closed circuit cameras installed during the pandemic.
Another fundamental tool is the Dubrovnik Passportwhich offers visitors a simple way to visit all the city’s museums and walls and gives the municipality the necessary data for decision making.
More radically, the management plan created in conjunction with the University of Dubrovnik limited the maximum number of people within the walls to 11,200.
In 2019, 9 thousand to 9,500 visitors arrived daily from the cruise ships in the holiday season, not to mention tourists received by air or terrestrial.
The system is working. Franković indicates that this year the numbers did not exceed 10,500 visitorslargely thanks to the reduction of cruise ships.
In 2026, tourists will need to reserve, through passport, periods of time to visit the city’s walls and museums. A traffic light system shows which are the most calm and most popular times.
Other changes in view, in relation to tourism, include the End of the unwanted noise of the bags with wheels On the streets with boulders, with a low cost luggage delivery service.
In addition, new regulations and taxes on short -term leases will make you leasing apartments less attractive to locals. With that, the Hotel prices can increase.
But the less conventional measures may be the purchase by the House of buildings in the old town to lease to young families and the establishment of a school in an old palace.
Alongside the new homes lease legislation, the goal is to relocate residents and bring life back to a city emptied by tourismreversing what has already been described as Dubrovnik’s “Disneyification”.
“This is very important in the long run,” explains Franković.
“Strategically, step by step, we will earn more and more homes inside the walls of the city. This is the main way to bring people back to the old city. ”
But not everyone is so favorable to change.
School official Marc Van Bloemen relates his apartments to tourists and believes that Changes are not enough. Van Bloemen appeared in a demonstration against tourism earlier this year, protesting the residents’ opinions to be heard.
For him, “The Old City It’s a money -making machine. She is turning this city into a theme park and people try to live here as if they are obstructing the way. ”
Van Bloemen believes that the idea of periods of time intends to put more people in the city, Do not manage the flow. And that long -term problems are not being analyzed. “We moved here in 1972,” he says, “But we wouldn’t do that now.”
Marko Milos is the owner of the Tourism Company Dubrovnik Local Guides and lives in the Old City. He sees the question differently.
“Honestly, in my opinion, It is much better than it used to be“He says.” Sometimes it is chaotic and super -concurrent, but compared to 2017 and 2018, as local guides, we think it has improved. “
Purchasing homes with public money and their lease for locals is a expensive strategy, but so far it seems to be working.
“I live inside the city walls with 1000 people,” Milos continues. “I grew up here and I was raised here.”
“I think they are doing the best they can! Local life is returning with the school that was opened last year.”
“For me, as a local resident of tourism, I want a city where we can all live well and the Tourism can benefit all.”
