“A world premiere”. Tourists staying only one day in Venice are required to pay a tax. How much they will take out of their pocket

A major innovation awaits tourists on Thursday when they arrive at the train station in Venice: ticket inspectors will be tasked with checking whether they have a mandatory entry ticket on busy days in the city. Through this world premiere, the city hopes to limit excessive tourism, forcing day-trippers to pay five euros to walk along its famous canals, reports News.ro.

“The goal is to find a balance between tourism and the city and its inhabitants (…) We need to reduce the impact of day tourists on certain days. On certain dates, it is too high and this creates stress for the city”, explained the deputy for tourism Simone Venturini in an interview with AFP.

In front of the elegant Santa Lucia station, the main entry point to the city, a ticket counter has been set up to help tourists without this new permit in the form of a QR code, also available online.

Venice thus becomes the first tourist city in the world to charge an entrance fee, like an amusement park, at a time when anti-tourism movements are multiplying, especially in Spain, prompting the authorities to take measures to reconcile the well-being of residents with a crucial economic sector.

It remains to be seen whether, despite its modest price and the absence of a ceiling on the number of visitors, Venice will succeed in making its bet.

Ashish Thakkar, a tourist of Indian origin who lives in Florida, is skeptical: “If I come from abroad, I don’t mind paying 5 euros (…) I don’t think there will be a big difference.”

For the Deputy Minister of Tourism, the idea is “mainly to discourage local tourism from the residents of the Veneto region, who can visit Venice whenever they want.”

Mayor Luigi Brugnaro admitted at the beginning of April that “it is an experiment”

Mayor Luigi Brugnaro himself admitted at the beginning of April that “it is an experiment”, which will surely be followed by other major tourist cities around the world.

Its municipality, one of the most visited in the world, has already banned giant cruise ships from entering its historic center, and passengers will also have to show identification.

In high season, 100,000 tourists sleep in Venice, in addition to the tens of thousands of daily visitors. Compared to the approximately 50,000 inhabitants of the city center, which is constantly shrinking.

At this stage, however, the experiment remains very limited: for the year 2024, only 29 peak days are affected by this new tax, which therefore starts on Thursday, a public holiday in Italy, and applies almost every weekend from May to July .

The new tax is intended exclusively for tourists who enter the old city daily between 08:30 and 16:00 local time. They will have to download their QR code from the dedicated website (https://cda.ve.it/fr/), which is available in English, Spanish, French and German, as well as Italian.

A fine of between 50 and 300 euros has been set to punish tourists who try to escape through the net, although local authorities have said they intend to resort to persuasion rather than repression.

Tourists staying at least one night will not be affected and will receive a free QR code for their accommodation. In addition, there are many exemptions, especially for people under 14 and for students.

Venice, famous throughout the world for its monuments, works of art, bridges and canals, has been a UNESCO World Heritage Site since 1987.

However, in September the city narrowly missed out on being listed as a World Heritage Site in Danger by UNESCO, whose experts deemed the gem threatened by over-tourism and global warming due to “insufficient” measures taken by Italy to combat the deterioration of the site.

Publisher: BC

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