The authorities of the city of Venice, Italy, announced Tuesday that they will begin testing a ticket system starting next spring, forcing to pay 5 euros (5.36 dollars) to those who come to spend the day in the historic Italian city.
Venice, which receives about 30 million tourists a year, will thus become the first city in the world in establishing this measure in an attempt to curb the flood of tourists.
The Executive Council of the City Council supported the project weeks after Unesco recommended adding Venice to its list of world heritage in danger, partly because of the impact of mass tourism.
“Regulating the flow of tourists in some periods is necessary, but this does not mean closing the city,” said the mayor of Venice, Luigi Brugnaro. “Venice will always be open to everyone.”
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How will the payment work?
The long-debated project it still has to be approved by the City Council as a whole. It is expected that, after the review of the corresponding commissions, it will be definitively approved on September 12.
There are still many details to be determined, such as how many tickets can be reserved, so the Executive Council agreed to test the system for 30 days, probably during the holidays and the weekends of the spring and summer of 2024.
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As indicated on the municipal website, “the resolution establishes the guidelines for the introduction of a new management system for tourist flows, with the definition of general principles, exclusions, exemptions, controls and sanctions, through a multi-channel platform and multilingual which will be available shortly”.
The objective “is to discourage daily tourism at certain times, in line with the delicacy and uniqueness of the city”, highlights the Consistory, which specifies that the access fee “must be paid by any natural person, over 14 years of age, who accesses the city”, except residents, workers and students.
Tourists who spend the night in the city are also exempt, residents of the Veneto region, people in need of care, participants in sports competitions, law enforcement officers on duty and family members of residents.
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With the new system, Venice will be “a global pioneer,” said Simone Venturini, councilor for Tourism.
Venturini stressed that the city does not seek to obtain benefits, since the fee will only cover the costs of the system, but to find “a new balance between the rights of those who live, study or work in Venice and those who visit the city”.
“The message we want to convey is that Venice is accessible, open, but visitors, both national and international, must understand that programming is needed to better manage the balance between residence and tourism,” said Budget adviser Michele Zuin.
Venice, founded in the 5th century and became a naval power in the Mediterranean in the 10th century, It is currently one of the most visited cities in the world, with daily peaks of up to 100,000 tourists who spend the night there, while its population, of about 50,000 inhabitants, is reduced annually.
On July 31, Unesco announced that it was going to propose the inclusion of Venice in the list of endangered heritage, since the measures adopted by the Italian State to protect the city and its lagoon were “insufficient” and “must be expanded”.
The UNESCO Heritage Center considered mass tourism, reform projects and climate change some of the main threats to the Italian city, as they damage the structures of buildings and urban areas, degrading their cultural and social identity.
*With AFP and EFE
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