British tourist defaces his house in the Pompeii Archaeological Park

Photos of the damage shared online showed the initials “JW LMW MW” engraved into the old structure along with “07/08/24” and “MYLAW”.

The staff alerted the local authorities, who intervened and reported the incident as “damage to artistic heritage” to a court in Torre Annuziata.

The man apologized and said he made the carvings to commemorate his family’s trip. He faces a heavy fine and even a prison sentence.

According to Reuters, Italian authorities in January decided to impose higher penalties on people who damage cultural sites and monuments in an effort to combat “ecovandals.” Ecovandals are environmental activists who destroy well-known works of art and monuments in public to draw attention to their cause.

Fines of between 20,000 and 60,000 euros are now threatened, as well as prison sentences of between six months and five years.

Representatives of the Pompeii Archaeological Park did not respond to Business Insider’s request for comment.

It is not the first time that Pompeii has had to endure bad behaviour from tourists. A man from Kazakhstan defaced one of the houses in Pompeii in June, and an Australian tourist apologized in 2022 after riding a moped through Pompeii.

Such behavior has spread throughout Italy since the travel industry recovered from the COVID-19 pandemic.

In 2023, tourists from England carved their names into the Colosseum. In Florence, a German tourist damaged a 16th-century fountain in 2023 when he climbed on it to take a selfie.

Italy’s tourism minister criticized irresponsible tourists in a statement to CBS in August 2023.

“These tourists are also vandals because they have no respect for our cultural heritage, which belongs not only to Italy but to the whole world. We have presented a bill with a very simple concept: whoever destroys it pays for it,” she said.