Its principles of Venice are accused of turning the famous city into a “theme park”, as from today the – long announced – entrance ticket for those who take day trips.
Venice is the first major city in the world to implement such a regime. The charge of 5 euro aims at protection of the Unesco world heritage site from its effects excessive tourismdeterring day trippers and, according to the mayor, Luigi Brugnaromakes the city “sustainable” again.
How the Venice ticket will work
The ticket is for entrance to the historic center of Venice, can be booked online and will be valid during peak tourist season. From today, that is, until July 14. And this to you trial stage to see if there will be any results.
Of measure are excluded locals, workers, students and children under 14, as well as overnight tourists.
Day-trippers, however, will need to purchase their ticket and will then be provided with a QR code. Those without one will be able to buy a ticket on arrival, with the help of local attendants, who will also carry out random checks at five main arrival points, including Santa Lucia train station. Those without a ticket are at risk fines between 50 and 300 euros.
The Council of Venice declared that 5,500 people had booked a ticket for April 25, a national holiday in Italy, bringing 27,500 euros to the coffers of the city on the first day. Although Brugnaro denied it was an initiative aimed at harvesting cedars, he promised to lower local taxes for residents if the scheme is successful.
Residents’ reactions
However, several committees and residents’ associations have planned protests later in the day, arguing that the fee will do nothing to resolve the issue.
“I can tell you that almost the entire city is against it,” said Mr Matteo Cecchi, who heads Venessia.com, an activist group. “You can’t tax a city, all they do is turn it into a theme park. This is a bad image for Venice (…) Are we kidding?’
Federica Toninello, who heads ASC, a housing association, said: “They think this measure will solve the problem, but they haven’t really understood the consequences of mass tourism in a city like Venice. First, 5 euros will do nothing to deter people. But day-trippers aren’t the problem – it’s things like the lack of affordable housing (…) What we need are policies to help residents, for example, making rules to limit things like Airbnb».
The local branch of Arci, a cultural and social rights association, said it would distribute “symbolic passports” to tourists on Thursday as a way to highlight the “dubious constitutionality» of the measure regarding the restriction of free movement. The fee, he added, will be “ineffective in curbing mass tourism” while creating “unequal treatment between different categories of visitors”.
Others, however, have embraced the system. “It will help regulate tourist flows, which, during certain periods of the year, risk damaging a fragile city like Venice,” Tommaso Cicero, president of the Venice shopkeepers’ association, told Avvenire newspaper.
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