The ticket costs 5 euros. And there are already 8 thousand reservations

CERTAIN NUMBERS

There are 29 days identified in 2024 on which the ticket will be mandatory (only from 8.30am to 4pm): the first are from today to 5 May, for 11 days straight. Then every weekend in May (Saturday and Sunday), the weekends in June (excluding the 1st and 2nd), finally the weekends of 6-7 and 13-14 July. After this experiment, the Municipality will evaluate whether to extend the initiative for the following months. «The first numbers are in line with our expectations – comments the tourism councilor, Simone Venturini – And which we imagine will grow in the next few hours. Even those 30 thousand tourists staying overnight, guests of the accommodation facilities, are not all of them. From our estimates they should be between 40 and 45 thousand. Many will register at the last moment. And the same will happen for day trippers, who decide based on the weather.” In short, an evolving picture, but which will ultimately provide certain data. «And this is a disruptive fact of the contribution – underlines the councilor – It is not only a tool to discourage arrivals on the most critical days, which remains our first objective, but it will also allow us to have certain numbers, not estimates, on the number of people who will arrive on a certain day. Venice will be the first city in the world to have this possibility, which will allow us to better plan reception.” The councilor reiterates that this start-up is experimental: «We have this possibility of making a system that has never been tried before work. In many years nothing has been done against overtourism. This administration is trying.”

COLORED TOTEMS

Today’s test is certainly highly anticipated, the anniversary of the Liberation but also the day of the patron saint San Marco. Yesterday was the eve of preparations. In the morning, under the heavy drizzle, workers and technicians were at work to complete the preparation of the station square in Santa Lucia, the true hub of “paid” Venice. The ticket booth is ready, with machines for printing exemptions and cash desks where you can pay for tickets. At the foot of the steps, six large totems of three different colors are positioned to channel different visitors: orange for tourists; greenery for residents, workers and students; blue for those who just need to pass through, without the need for a ticket. Also ready for use is a nice pile of tendiflexes, the path marking columns. «But there will be no blocks – confirms the director of Vela, Fabrizio D’Oria, who has to manage the new reception system by reservation – Alongside the totems, there will be stewards to direct visitors. Then, based on the flows, we will evaluate whether to use the tendiflexes to line up the visitors. But without blocks.” Other information and steward totems also in the mainland terminals and especially in Piazzale Roma. Here, however, no gaps or queues. «The real entrance for the contribution is in Saint Lucia. Around Piazzale Roma we will only have stewards to control passage on the bridges.”

CONTROLS AND SANCTIONS

A complex organisation, which will have to be run in. Yesterday there were groups of stewards still in training. From today they will have to sort traffic, inform, control and, if necessary, fine. The majority, around seventy, in white bibs, will only have informational tasks. Another fifty, wearing yellow bibs, will also be able to check the QR codes. Finally, about thirty, with orange bib, those who will also be able to fine: fines from 50 to 300 euros. But in these first days the order of service is not to be too rigid.

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