On the 1st of April the five surveillance cameras that scan the entrances into the historic Old City centre of Dubrovnik were activated. Apart from video surveillance these cameras will also be used to count the number of visitors who enter the city. This is all part of the project introduced by the Dubrovnik City Council “Forget the crowds, respect the rules and information,” and a million Kuna was invested into this project.
With the historic UNESCO World Heritage Site a magnet for tourists and cruise ship passengers in the summer months the walled city is often extremely crowded. The Stradun, the main street that runs through the centre of the city, is often so packed with visitors that it is impossible to move. Without doubt one of the main reasons for these crowds is the number of cruise ships that arrive throughout the summer. There are days that five or more cruise ships dock in Dubrovnik meaning that upwards of 15,000 passengers a day.
The new project would limit the number of visitors to the Old City of Dubrovnik to 8,000, when this number is reached the city would then be closed to visitors. These new surveillance cameras were installed in order to count the number of guests.
Data from the first day of the video surveillance showed that from 7.00am to 10.00am 2.074 visitors entered the city. On the 1st of April there was a cruise ship docked in the Port of Dubrovnik, Viking Sea, which was carrying several thousand passengers. However as the tourist season hasn’t even really started the fact that over 2,000 visitors entered in just a three-hour period could be raising alarm bells with the authorities.