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Florence is cracking down on short-term holiday rentals in a bid to curb over-tourism, ordering the removal of self check-in keyboxes by February 25. The move targets the increasingly popular practice of using keyboxes, commonly employed by platforms like Airbnb, which allow guests to access properties without meeting the owner or a representative.
While convenient for both property owners and tourists, the keyboxes have drawn criticism for their perceived unsightliness and the potential security risks associated with the lack of face-to-face interaction during check-in. City officials argue that this measure will help manage the influx of tourists and maintain a better balance between visitors and residents.
“Next week we will go … to check where the ban on keyboxes is not respected, and then we will remove them,” Florence Mayor Sara Funaro told a local television channel on Wednesday.
Fines of up to 400 euros ($417.20) will be imposed on non-compliant owners, according to the city council’s decision.
Other famed Italian tourist destinations such as Rome and Venice have also taken steps to rein in tourist numbers as locals protest against the lack of affordable accommodation and hoteliers say holiday lets are hitting their business.
Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni’s government has already issued a nationwide rule prohibiting check-ins without visual guest identification.Massimo Torelli, spokesperson for the “Let’s save Florence to live in it” campaign, said the group had been daubing the check-in boxes with a red cross.
They are “everywhere, on the bicycle racks and on the street-light poles … Florence is dying of uncontrolled tourism,” he said.
Torelli said he was pleased that city hall was finally taking action and he hoped the number of apartments dedicated to short-stay visitors would drop from 15,000 at present to 7,000-8,000, freeing up accommodation for local residents.
New measures have been put in place to crack down on overtourism in Florence. Florence, long run by the center-left, last year announced a ban on new short-term private rentals in the center in hopes of stemming the exodus of locals. It has repeatedly pressed for a special regulation from the national government, currently headed by right-wing Premier Giorgia Meloni, to cap the number of days a property can be rented out at 120.
Mayor Sara Funaro’s Cabinet approved a 10-point plan that, among other things, would ban key boxes on buildings in Florence’s historic center as well as the use there of loudspeakers by tour guides, a statement from City Hall said.
Source: independent.co.uk
