The city council of the city of Venice (northern Italy) announced this Thursday that tourists will begin to pay an entrance fee to visit the city of canals starting next April 25, a “tourist toll” that will only operate 29 days a year and in a limited time slot.
The price for a general ticket will be 5 euros, as confirmed by the Venetian mayor, Luigi Brugnaro, who also announced the calendar with the days on which the controversial tax will be in force and which will coincide with the busiest tourist times of the year.
The measure will be in effect every day from April 25 to May 5. Then it will be charged on weekends in May (11 and 12, 18 and 19 and 25 and 26), June (8 and 9, 15 and 16, 22 and 23 and 29 and 30), and two weekends in July (the one on 6 and 7 and the one on 13 and 14). There will be no charge on the weekend that coincides with the Italian Republic Day (June 1 and 2).
The “access fee”, as called by the City Council, will be mandatory from 8:30 a.m. local time to 4:00 p.m. for all visitors over 14 years of age, while residents, workers and students of the city, as well as tourists with an accommodation reservation in Venice, will be exempt.
“It is not a revolution, but the first step on a path to regulate the access of daily visitors. An experiment that aims to improve the habitability of the city, of those who live in it and of those who work in it,” explained Brugnaro. it’s a statement.
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The sanctions for those who do not pay will range from 50 to 300 euros.
“Venice is the first city in the world to implement this path, which could be an example for other fragile and delicate cities that need to be protected,” added the mayor.
The City Council will also rely on a control room in which they will receive data from the sensors in charge of counting people, of the issuance of tickets in museums and of traffic on docks and piers.
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The contribution will be necessary only in the ancient city, which is home to the emblematic St. Mark’s Square, and not on the smaller islands, including Lido di Venezia, Pellestrina, Murano, Burano, Torcello, Sant’Erasmo, Mazzorbo, Mazzorbetto, Vignole, S. Andrea, la Certosa, San Servolo, S. Clemente and Poveglia.
The controversial measure was approved in September, during a municipal plenary session in which the vote was postponed due to protests by hundreds of citizens.
Venice, which receives 30 million tourists a year, has suffered demographic bleeding for decades which has meant that, for the first time in the historical series that began in 1871, fewer than 50,000 people live in its historic center (49,665 at the end of 2022, while a year before there were 50,430 and in 2000 they rose to 66,386, according to official data). .
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The city of Venice and its lagoon have been part of the UNESCO World Heritage since 1987 and Last July, UNESCO recommended its inclusion on the list of heritage in danger, but finally the Committee of the UN body decided to give Italy time to develop more conservation measures, after positively assessing its current plan, including the tourist toll.
“Since the 1950s it has been said that Venice is a dying city. Today we reiterate that Venice is a living city, which will remain open to tourists who come from all over the world to visit it with respect,” added the mayor.
EFE
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