Bruges cracks down on overtourism to avoid becoming ‘complete Disneyland’

Measures include caps on cruise ships and no more advertising to daytrippers

Bruges' mayor wants to limit the influx of visitors (Alamy)

Bruges is the latest European city to introduce new regulations to tackle overtourism and avoid “disneyfication”.

The city’s mayor is backing several measures, including a cap on the number of cruise ships and an end to all advertising campaigns encouraging daytrippers.

Cruise liners docked in port will be limited to two at any one time, down from five at present, reports Flemish newspaper Het Nieuwsblad.

Ships will also be asked to dock on weekdays rather than weekends to reduce overcrowding, while the tourist board will stop promoting the destination in nearby cities such as Paris and Brussels.

“We have to control the influx more if we don’t want it to become a complete Disneyland here,” said Dirk De fauw, who has been mayor of Bruges since 2018.

“We have to aim for quality tourism, people who stay here for a few days, eat well, visit museums.”

As with other destinations that attract a lot of day and cruise visitors, Bruges is keen to swap these for travellers who invest more locally by booking a hotel and staying for longer.

The beautiful Belgium city, made even more famous after its starring role in 2008 film In Bruges, attracts so many tourists that visitors can outnumber residents by three to one on a busy day.

The city centre has been crowned an Unesco World Heritage Site as “an outstanding example of a medieval historic settlement.”

Bruge’s announcement follows a similar crackdown in Rome. This week the city council revealed it had updated and expanded its list of regulations, some of which date from 1947, to create a new package of rules.

The Italian capital has outlawed men going topless in public and the practice of attaching “love padlocks” to bridges, both of which carry a fine if contravened.

Eating messy foods around popular tourist attractions such as the Trevi Fountain is also a no-no according to the new regulations, as is touching your lips against the spout when drinking from Roman public water fountains.

Ticket touts selling “skip the line” tickets at some of the Eternal City’s biggest attractions, such as the Vatican Museums and Colosseum, are prohibited, as well as those who dress up as Roman centurions around tourist hotspots and charge money for photos.