Over 15 thousand people paid 5 euros to enter the city: for now there does not appear to have been an effect on the number of daily tourists
On Thursday, on the first day of the trial of an access fee to enter Venice, thousands of people queued to pass the 15 entrances organized to check their tickets. In the previous days, 113 thousand people had booked on the platform put online by the municipality: of these 15,700 had to pay the 5 euro contribution, 40 thousand were guests in hotels or B&Bs, 4,100 relatives or friends of inhabitants, 5,300 owners of second homes, 1,152 students on a school trip, 13 thousand students and 20,400 workers. On the first day the municipality collected just over 78 thousand euros and even if there was not the desired effect, i.e. limiting the presence of daily tourists, the mayor Luigi Brugnaro said he was still satisfied.
Venice is the first major city in Italy and among the first in the world to introduce a paid ticket for tourists. Who visits it in the day must pay a contribution of 5 euros, while tourists who stay overnight in some accommodation facility do not pay, for which the payment of the tourist tax is already mandatory. It doesn’t even pay anyone who works within the municipality, even as a commuter, regardless of whether they are an employee or a freelancer; students of any institution based in the municipality, whether schools or universities; residents in Veneto; those who need treatment in a facility within the municipality of Venice; those who go to visit a resident person, who will however have to make the request on behalf of their guests.
– Read also: Everything about paid entrances to Venice
On Thursday, most of the people arriving by train or car had already paid for their tickets in the previous days. They showed up at the control points at the main entrances to the city with a QR code ready to show to the 60 controllers of the municipality. For those who had not already paid, information points were set up to turn to: there were some predictable queues, but no situations of chaos. In the rest of the city the checks were carried out by 75 inspectors, 14 thousand people were checked and at the moment there is no data relating to fines, which range from 50 to 300 euros.
From the access data it seems that the main objective of the measure, i.e. discouraging tourists from staying for just one day, has not been achieved, although naturally it is too early to make definitive assessments. “Until now nothing had ever been done to regulate tourism, we are trying,” said mayor Luigi Brugnaro. «Based on the data we will decide how to proceed. In the future there will be more days and we will introduce other services in the QR code». At the end of the experimental period, which for 2024 runs from 25 April to 5 May and on weekends until 14 July, a more precise assessment will be possible.
– Read also: Will the paid ticket to visit Venice work?
There have also been protests against the ticket: several committees and civic associations maintain that the entry fee is unconstitutional because it does not respect the freedom of movement provided for by the Constitution. Furthermore, many residents complained about the controls. A group of demonstrators organized an impromptu procession carrying a banner with the words “Veniceland”: the tram was stopped and there were some moments of tension with the police at the entrance to the Papadopoli gardens, in the Santa Croce district (I sestieri are the six areas into which the city center is divided). In the afternoon the “Venessia” association distributed messages in several languages thanking the tourists, inviting them to ask for a refund of the 5 euros if they did not enjoy the visit, just like in an amusement park.
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