The four star Venice hotel named the Monaco & Grand Canal Hotel conjured up this plan, after holiday makers had complained about the "agressive and annoying" birds who have become a problem to tourists over the last few years.
Hugeine and environmental expert Francesco Boemo said this, “The huge number seagulls, in addition to being an aggressive and annoying presence for people, represent a problem for health and hygiene, as well as for buildings and the environment".
Several ideas including using unpleasant odours or hiring a falconer to hunt the gulls down were considered, however the hotel owner Paolo Lorenzoni settled on the idea of providing water pistols to tourists to keep the birds at bay.
"They really work and they're also coloured orange, which those birds don't like", the owner said. "As soon as they see the pistols, they just fly away. So really you don't even need to use them, you just need to keep them on the table".
"We decided to act after a customer lifted a croissant to his mouth and a lurking seagull dived and snatched it from his hand", Mazzocco stated. “On another occasion a gull flew off with an entire steak, just as the waiter lifted the lid off the plate he was serving it on".
He also added that having orange coloured water pistols will also deter the gulls, as they tend to stay away from that colour.
The hotel hopes that this plan will be successful, having already used a fake owl and falcon to put off the seagulls.
