The first city in the world to defend itself from the invasion of tourists, with reservations and ‘tickets’ to the historic center, Venice has experimented with the entrance ticket amidst protests, noisy and participatory, and consensus, especially among American tourists. A measure, the cost of the voucher is 5 euros, designed above all to curb daily tourists who want to visit it at all costs even on ‘black mark’ days. In the past there had been crusades against ‘backpackers’, who mistook Venice for a campsite and did not respect its decorum. Now we have moved on to apps and the QR code to manage the assaults of thousands of people on the jewel on the lagoon.
It all started today, April 25th, Liberation Day, and the day of the patron saint, San Marco, in the first long holiday weekend. And from the first reactions there seem to have been more lights than shadows in the ‘first’ of the entry contribution. The experimentation will continue throughout 2024, during the 29 days at risk of invasion marked in the calendar. For the checks, the Municipality has deployed an army of inspectors and municipal police personnel, to explain to tourists, some of whom are unfavorable to the initiative, the route to enter the city with the ticket, necessary from 8.30 to 16.00. There were 113 thousand arrivals calculated on the day but only 15,700 tourists who had to pay the 5 euros to obtain the pass. Just over one in 10, all the others could count on some exemption. Crowds especially at the gazebo in front of the Santa Lucia station, the main landing point for ‘hit and run’ holidaymakers. For those heading on the classic routes towards the historic centre, from the Scalzi bridge towards Rialto, or Lista di Spagna towards San Marco, no one passes without identifying themselves.
“It’s fine like this” especially the foreign guests comment. Holidaymakers arriving from Veneto take it less well, and even though they don’t have to pay anything, they still have to register on the app and receive the exemption QR. However, the complaints come from other Italian tourists, they do have to pay the contribution. “It’s not right to pay to enter Venice” says someone, others still find it difficult to accept wasting time in queues and then juggling with the electronic machines. Despite the information hype, there are always tourists caught off guard: “I come from Florence – says an American tourist – if they had informed me in time, in Tuscany, I would have been able to visit the city freely without wasting time”.
However, the majority are tourists who stay overnight in hotels, and are therefore exempt from paying (they will already pay the tourist tax). However, not everything goes smoothly: there are some true Venetians who go so far as to invoke Article 16 of the Constitution on freedom of movement. And in the nearby hub of Piazzale Roma the protest of the social centers is taking place: there are around 300 of them, they contest the mayor Brugnaro and face each other head-on with the police, the officers hold their ground with shields, some pushes, but few minutes everything is over. The citizens of the committees and associations opposed to the ticket instead demonstrated at the QR code checkpoints, where they confronted the mayor Luigi Brugnaro.
“Let’s talk to each other” says the mayor immediately, who then explains. “We do it to leave the city to future generations. Something needs to be done and I’m trying. Nothing has ever been done to regulate tourism – insists the mayor – politics doesn’t do it because it has no interest in doing so. I have done. I apologize for the inconvenience, but we have to do something, we can’t just talk.”
Demonstrations against the entrance ticket
Around 300 members of the social centers held a protest demonstration this morning in Piazzale Roma against the introduction of the entrance ticket to the city for day tourists. Some moments of tension were recorded when the young people tried to overcome the police cordon to reach the train station area, where there was a checkpoint for vouchers or QR codes certifying exemption. for categories that only need to register on the Municipality’s app. In the sights of the protesters above all the figure of the mayor Luigi Brugnaro, and the idea of a city transformed into “Veniceland”. A calmer climate, however, in a second demonstration of the citizen committees against the ticket, positioned close to the QR checkpoint. There was also a brief confrontation with Mayor Brugnaro, which ended in a hug.
Video Venice, demonstrations against the entrance ticket
Mayor, ‘access ticket to preserve the city’
“Nothing has ever been done to regulate tourism, politicians don’t do it because they have no interest in doing so. I did it.” The mayor of Venice Luigi Brugnaro said this in front of the station, where the gates were installed for the start of the experiment on the access contribution to the historic city. “I apologize for the inconvenience but we have to do something – he added – we can’t just talk, we have to try to do something and now we are doing it because we have the duty and task of leaving and preserving the city for the next generations” . “The fear of change is legitimate – underlined Brugnaro – but this too can be used to improve but if fear blocks everything there is no progress, there is no future”. “Today we spend more money than we collect – he continued – but this is not an expense, it is a way to make it clear that we need to change and therefore dilute visits to the city, avoiding congestion and people are understanding this, there is some protest “Okay, we accept it, it’s legitimate, I just hope it helps to improve.” “The experimentation will be medium-long – explained Brugnaro -, we must collect data and information to then calibrate the system, offer services as the QR code already does which has the city map with, for example, the toilets marked and then when we pass to the economic profit everything will go towards services to the city: we no longer have the funding from the Special Law for Venice even if, if it is found for the Messina bridge, it could also be found for this unique city”. “The greatest satisfaction – he concluded – is seeing those who approach the gates waving the access QR code: they understand”.
The experimentation
On the first day of testing the entrance ticket to Venice, there is an attack on the gazebo for payment or exemption from the entrance fee outside the Venice train station. Added to the many tourists and commuters on holiday are the ranks of journalists who have come from much of the world to study the first ‘ticket’ designed to visit a city.
Over 80 thousand people registered their presence in the city today, 25 April. However, only 7 thousand, one in ten, according to data updated yesterday afternoon, have paid the 5 euro voucher to access the historic centre. All other accesses are for people exempt from the tax (Venetian citizens, workers, students and other categories), required to register on the online platform but not to pay. Among these, 30,300 are guests of the accommodation facilities, 9,450 are Venetians, potential ‘day’ holidaymakers.
With the controls leading to the ‘corridors’ to access the nearby Ponte degli Scalzi or the Lista di Spagna obligatory passages for San Marco, today is his feast: he is the Patron Saint of Venice. There is a bit of amazement, few were prepared for such an imposing machine at one of the main terminals of the city but no one is complaining. Tourists are divided, with exemption or not. on the mien to be paid. A family from Puglia hosting family members in Veneto is exempt but must register. They snort at the registration machine, something doesn’t add up, they ask the assistant for help and in the meantime they comment “it’s not right to pay or be registered” but to the objection about the evils of overtourism they reply “this isn’t right either”. The approval of the foreign tourists who pay is unanimous, mainly Americans, French and Spanish. “We understood the problem, Italy is made up of ancient cities – says an American lady who came from Florence -, there is nothing wrong with paying if you can then visit the city better. The only problem is that time flies by queue, if they had told us in Florence we would have perhaps paid in another way”. Embarrassment for a group of girls from Vicenza. They have to go to lunch in Pellestrina – they are exempt because it is an island – but they don’t know whether they have to register or not, they look for information on the totems but are immediately kidnapped by a TV for an interview.
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