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The ancient Roman archaeological park of Pompeii in southern Italy has announced that it will cap daily visitor numbers at 20,000 as a response to its surging popularity.

The change, effective from November 15, 2024, comes after a peak of more than 36,000 daily entrances on a free-admission Sunday, the park said in a statement. The park's director, Gabriel Zuchtriegel, said that reducing human pressure on the ancient site was important for conservation and safety reasons.

The new limit follows attempts by other tourist hotspots to control the number of visitors, including Venice in Italy, with its entry fee system.

Last year, Pompeii had more than four million visitors, up 33.6 per cent year-on-year, translating into a daily average of around 11,200 people, Ministry of Culture data showed. In October 2024, there were more than 480,000 visitors, putting the average at about 15,500 a day. The busiest month so far this year was May, when about 517,000 people visited, or some 16,700 a day.

A spokesperson for the park said the 20,000 daily figure had been surpassed only during free-admission Sundays and on three or four normal paying days. Entrance to Italian museums is free on the first Sunday of the month. A regular ticket to Pompeii otherwise starts from EUR 18 (approximately INR 1,623).

Pompeii is an archaeological wonder, showing the remarkably preserved ruins of a once-thriving city submerged under volcanic ash, rocks and dust when Mount Vesuvius exploded in AD 79. About a third of the site has yet to be excavated, and it continues to be of huge interest to archaeologists as it provides the most complete picture of daily Roman life anywhere in the world.

Earlier this year, archaeologists revealed frescos of mythical Greek figures including Helen of Troy and Apollo. The artworks were found in a banqueting hall with dramatic black walls and a mosaic floor made of more than one million white tiles.

(With inputs from news agencies)