Starting April 25 and running until mid-July, tourists who decide not to stay in the city will be subject to an access fee of five euros. Additionally, all visitors will be required to register on a designated website, regardless of their hosting plan. See the details.
Agitation in “His Serene Majesty”. Starting this Thursday, April 25, Tourists will face a five-euro fee to access Venice's historic center.
The measure will be extended until May 5 and will be applied during subsequent weekends until July 14, as well as on June 1 and 2.
Under the new method, visitors will receive a QR code on their mobile devices, which they must show if required by security guards. Those who do not comply with this provision will face fines ranging between 30 and 500 euros.
In addition, those who are not residents of Veneto will have to pay the access fee established this year. The first collection period coincides with April 28, when Pope Francis will visit Venice and will preside over a mass in St. Mark's Square, where around 9,000 people are expected to attend.
Venice is home to a population of 48,997 inhabitants, mostly made up of people over 65 years of age. This data contrasts markedly with the considerable number of tourist places available in the city, which exceed 52,000.
During peak periods, the number of daily visitors can exceed 170,000 and in 2023 alone, Venice will receive a total of 38 million tourists.
Councilor Giovanni Andrea Martini, leader of the opposition 'Toda la ciudad united', which is leading the protests against the measure, told EFE that “it will not work, since no limit has been established and it will be enough to pay. It is not the five euros that will limit tourism”.
In addition, Martini pointed out that this measure poses “a privacy problem for citizens by having to explain their movements or who they host in their homes.”
Martini and several associations that have organized demonstrations in Piazza Roma, the main entrance to Venice, to protest against what they say will be the transformation of the city into a “paying museum”, without addressing the real problems faced by its citizens.
“It is just a way of monetizing without solving the problem because no limit has been placed on entry,” commented Marco Gasparinetti, also a councilor and spokesperson for the '25 April' association.
A unique experiment in the world
The tourism boom first caused boat traffic in Venice's canals, unleashing waves that threatened the stability of the city's historic buildings.
Two years ago, the Italian government implemented a ban preventing cruise ships from docking in central Venice, partly in response to the damage caused by these huge ships to both architectural structures and the seabed.
Last August, UNESCO issued a warning, threatening to include Venice on its list of World Heritage sites at risk due to “insufficient efforts” to conserve the city. These events opened the debate to take action to protect Venetian heritage.
In 2019, the Italian Government approved a proposal presented by the municipal administration for the implementation of a “contributory entrance fee” of 5 euros aimed at visitors who stay in the city for a single day.
![The Italian city of Venice](https://s.france24.com/media/display/29b9880c-4fb2-11ee-ab1e-005056bfb2b6/2c5ccaf4e6bdd38e0121392679d056a6bbfd1501.jpg)
The intention is to induce some tourists to reconsider their travel plans, and this measure is partly inspired by similar practices adopted by small Italian islands, such as Ponza, which impose a landing fee.
Although the proposal was put on hold during the pandemic, it was recently revived this year to implement this new rate as part of a trial period.
“No one wants to close the city and if someone wants to come on those days they can do so by paying five euros and booking the visit. This will give us real and important data: how many visitors, where they come from, how many exemptions and much more, an important tool to understand how organize services,” said Luigi Brugnaro, the mayor of Venice, defending his measure.
It is “an experiment that no one has carried out so far, but that many international cities are analyzing carefully,” commented tourism councilor Simone Venturini.
“The access fee was not conceived as a 'ticket' to pay, but as a reservation system to visit the historic center with the aim of improving the management of flows and achieving a balance between the needs of those who intend to discover the beauties of the city and those who, on the other hand, live or work in it,” he added.
![A mural by artist Maurizio Cattelan is seen outside the Giudecca Women's Prison which houses the pavilion of the Holy See during the pre-opening of the 60th Venice Biennale, on April 18, 2024 in Venice.](https://s.france24.com/media/display/dece2f40-0259-11ef-ac83-005056a97e36/venecia-3.jpg)
The measure specifically targets tourists because single-day visitors account for approximately two-thirds of all visitors to Venice. and mostly consist of large groups, cruise passengers and people coming from the surrounding Veneto region.
For experts on the subject, these excursionists have little economic value for Venice, but They put significant pressure on their infrastructure by following a standard three- to four-hour itinerary.
Now, tourists who wish to visit the city during the hours of 8:30 a.m. to 4:00 p.m. will have to pay an entrance fee, excluding access to the islands. The purpose of this measure is to discourage mass tourism, especially on busy days.
Venice, also known as the 'queen of the Adriatic', the 'Serenissima' or the 'city of canals', is located in a swampy lagoon in the Adriatic Sea, between the mouths of the Po and Piave rivers. This city is made up of 120 small islands connected to each other by hundreds of bridges, rivers and canals.
The nickname “Serenissima” originated from an anecdote in which a Genoese delegation addressed the Venetian Doge as “His Serene Majesty” during the proclamation of one of the Venetian Doges.
With EFE
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