The Italian city of Venice is to ban large cruise ships from its historic centre by November 2014 and the numbers of smaller ships passing in front of the Piazza San Marco will also be limited from January.

The ban is in response to protests from local residents and environmentalists who have been concerned about the increasing number of cruise ships passing very close to the historic city. The death of a German tourist, killed by a water bus on the Venice waterways earlier this year, also prompted calls for action.

From January the number of cruise ships over 40,000 tonnes will be cut by 20% and ships over 96,000 tonnes will be banned completely from next November.

"Finally the trend towards gigantic ships in the lagoon has been turned around," the mayor of Venice, Giorgio Orsoni, said in a statement. "We’ve had enough of these mega cruise ships just metres away from San Marco, from now on there will be clear limits on the size of ships that can enter Venice."

If you are planning a cruise to Venice, or any other destination, it’s very important to get the right travel insurance:

- Make sure that your cruise insurance provides cover for you to be airlifted from the ship to a main land hospital in the event that you fall ill and need medical treatment urgently.

- You should also ensure that your cruise insurance will cover you for all of the countries that you will be visiting; even if you are only stopping for a few hours it’s important to have travel cover in place.

- Cruises are not cheap, so check that the travel insurance you choose has enough cover for cancellation, otherwise you could find yourself out of pocket in the event that you are unable to travel and make a claim for cancellation.

Cruises are covered as standard on all travel insurance policies from Goodtogoinsurance.com.

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