Introduction 

The island of Capri, famed worldwide for its breathtaking landscapes and luxurious tourism offering, attracts approximately three million visitors annually within a restricted 10-square-kilometer area.

As the popularity of Capri continues to grow, local authorities face an urgent need to balance economic benefits with the preservation of environmental integrity and residents’ quality of life. Overcrowding, congestion in transportation hubs, environmental degradation, and uneven distribution of visitors across the island have emerged as critical issues. In response, the municipalities of Capri and Anacapri are spearheading a comprehensive, data-driven strategy that aims to optimize tourist flows, enhance mobility, and foster inclusive governance.

This approach builds on a growing body of European practices where establishing an evidence-based, participative management model enables destinations to reconcile tourism growth with sustainability goals.

Background and Context 

Capri’s remarkable scenic and cultural appeal has driven significant tourism flows, but structural limitations pose substantial challenges. The island’s narrow roads, limited public transport capacity, and reliance on a single port – Marina Grande – mean that even slight increases in visitor numbers can lead to severe congestion and environmental strain. The concentration of tourists around the iconic Piazzetta, along with the bottleneck at ferry docks, has caused discomfort among residents and hindered sustainable growth. Additionally, a high proportion of visitors arrive via private boats or cruise ships, often mooring in protected coastal areas, contributing to pollution and shoreline degradation.

While tourism is vital for local economic activity, the benefits are unevenly distributed, with luxury accommodations and sightseeing locations often disconnected from the wider community and the local economic tissue. Traditional capacity limits, such as daily visitor caps, appear impractical because demand is elastic and tied to luxury markets that self-regulate through pricing. Moreover, about 2,500 workers commute daily to and from the island, underscoring the critical importance of mobility management. This context presses the island toward innovative, nuanced policies grounded in data and stakeholder collaboration rather than fixed numerical thresholds.

Strategic Response and Governance Model 

Faced with these multifaceted challenges, Capri’s authorities have adopted a comprehensive managerial model emphasizing governance reform, stakeholder participation, and a focus on mobility.

The cornerstone of this strategy is the planned establishment of a joint Destination Management Organization (DMO), which will coordinate the efforts of the municipalities of Capri and Anacapri, the regional government, maritime operators, local businesses, and residents. Instead of enforcing rigid visitor caps, the strategy prioritizes flow redistribution through targeted interventions: optimizing ferry schedules, improving public transportation, regulating private boats, and promoting visiting arrangements that extend over different times and locations. This approach helps to target the root causes of local concerns, such as the increasing impact of each new tourist, the drop in average spending, and community tensions surrounding access to services.

Tourism governance on Capri is intentionally layered and collaborative. The Tourism Council brings together representatives from local government, the hospitality and restaurant sectors, and professional organizations to develop shared guidelines, promote projects, and monitor the effects of policies. Growing coordination between the municipalities of Capri and Anacapri aims to harmonize services and events, laying the groundwork for an island-wide DMO with operational authority. At the regional level, Campania Regional entity manages key maritime and transport regulations. Local authorities are seeking a stronger, binding voice in these areas to better align tourism operations with community needs.

In the future, the DMO will lead overall destination marketing, innovation, and management of emerging projects such as the Marine Protected Area, all supported by digital monitoring systems for tracking visitor and environmental data. Capri’s commitment to sustainability is also reinforced by its adherence to the Carta di Amalfi, a shared protocol that addresses waste reduction, biodiversity protection, sustainable mobility, and social inclusion, providing a framework of indicators for continuously improving tourism governance and safeguarding the island’s heritage.

Data and Technologies 

Key to the success of this approach is the integration of multiple data sources supported by advanced technologies. The municipalities partner with The Data Appeal Company to collect and analyze data streams.

Data collection is based on historical sources – such as the disembarkation tax, tickets sold at Grotta Azzurra, and hotel overnight stays – as well as developing metrics in collaboration with The Data Appeal Company. These new metrics include online sentiment analysis, credit card spending, bookings through online travel agencies (OTAs), and arrival data from Naples International Airport. A qualitative offline sentiment measure, based on surveys of residents and tourists, is also being defined.

To enhance this data infrastructure, the Municipality of Anacapri is planning a traffic monitoring system using GPS technology on public transport and private shuttles. This will enable the introduction of dynamic mitigation strategies; for instance, proactive stop-and-go systems will be implemented to temporarily restrict vehicle access to certain areas during periods of congestion, making use of intelligent signage such as variable message boards.

*Indicators and data collection systems that are not yet operational and are still being defined.

Using continuously updated dashboards, the Municipality of Anacapri can process and cross-reference collected data (for example, linking visitors’ arrival times with their average spending). This transforms the data into practical tools for guiding management decisions and improving tourism planning.

Implementation Steps 

The data collection and analysis process began in 2014, initially focusing on systematizing data related to the landing tax. Over time, monitoring expanded to include overnight stays and ticket sales for the Blue Grotto, the island’s main attraction. From 2024, through collaboration with The Data Appeal Company, new data sources have been integrated and more advanced digital tools have been adopted, allowing for increasingly comprehensive cross-analysis of the collected information.

Based on this data analysis, the Municipality of Capri is currently evaluating several solutions to improve mobility, manage tourist flows, and enhance environmental protection. In addition to installing GPS devices on private shuttles and public transport and implementing intelligent signage for real-time vehicle flow management, solutions under consideration include building an underground link between Marina Grande Port and Anacapri.

The most ambitious project underway is the establishment of a dedicated Marine Protected Area for Capri, distinct from that of the Sorrento Peninsula. The legislative proposal divides the territory into different zones—fully protected areas, regulated fishing zones, and boating districts—with specific rules for mooring, diving, and recreational activities based on the unique needs of each zone. The proposal, currently under review by the regional and national authorities, aims to make Capri a pilot site for balancing environmental preservation with high-quality tourism.

Conclusion

Capri’s approach serves as a leading example of how to move beyond managing tourism solely through subjective perceptions and emotional responses. By relying on precise data analysis, the island has shifted its focus from impressions to measurable realities, rigorously identifying cause-and-effect relationships between variables that are often overlooked. This new awareness has not only made it possible to redefine priorities and design truly effective, targeted interventions, but has also empowered the territory—even with its small geographic size—to make its voice heard and initiate substantial political change.

Methodology and References 

This case study draws on a variety of sources and qualitative methods. First, a 60-minute semi-structured interview was conducted, recorded, and fully transcribed with Manuela Schiano (Delegate for Culture, Tourism, and Educational and Social Policies for the Municipality of Anacapri) on July 29, 2025. Additionally, the contents of a presentation by Manuela Schiano and Mirko Lalli (CEO & Founder of Dara Appeal Company) were analyzed from the “Smart Destination Day” workshop, dedicated to intelligent tourism flow management and organized by the Travel Innovation Observatory on April 7, 2025.

To supplement these primary sources, dashboards used by the Municipality of Anacapri for monitoring and analyzing tourist flows were reviewed. Lastly, the study incorporated secondary sources, including articles and official documents such as:

• Comune di Amalfi. (April 19, 2024). _Nasce la Carta di Amalfi per un nuovo rapporto tra destinazioni turistiche e comunità residenti._ https://comune.amalfi.sa.it/Novita/Comunicati/Nasce-la-Carta-di-Amalfi-per-un-nuovo-rapporto-tra-destinazioni-turistiche-e-comunita-residenti
• Luiss Business School. (2022). _Verso Capri 4.0 Report._ https://iris.luiss.it/retrieve/e163de42-7596-19c7-e053-6605fe0a8397/Report_Verso%20Capri%204.0.pdf

Operazione cofinanziata dall’Unione Europea, Fondo Europeo di Sviluppo Regionale, dallo Stato italiano, Fondo di Rotazione, dalla Confederazione elvetica e dai Cantoni nell’ambito del Programma di Cooperazione Interreg VI-A Italia-Svizzera