The Unesco World Heritage Site of Pompeii in Italy will limit the number of daily visitors to 20 000 from November 15.
The decision was taken after a record 36 000 tourists visited the site on the first Sunday of October, when entry was free.
Nearly four million people visited the main Pompeii site in 2023, a third more than the previous year. The visitor count had been climbing in the run-up to the pandemic. In 2023 numbers were already above pre-COVID levels, BBC reports.
It is unlikely that tourists will be turned away very often. A spokesperson for the park told Reuters that the number had only ever exceeded 20 000 visitors during free-admission Sundays and on three or four normal paid-entry days.
Entry tickets to Pompeii start from €18 (R340).