VENICE. On the first day of the trial of the entrance fee to Venice, over 15,000 people paid the 5 euro ticket to enter the city. Mayor Luigi Brugnaro expressed satisfaction with the success of the control system and the QR code, underlining that Venice is the first major Italian city to introduce an access fee for tourists who visit for just one day.
On Thursday, thousands of people queued at the 15 gates set up to check tickets. 113,000 people had booked on the Municipality’s online platform: of these, 15,700 paid the contribution, while the others were exempt as they were guests in hotels or B&Bs, friends or relatives of residents, owners of second homes, students and workers.
The first day brought in around 78,000 euros for the Municipality. Mayor Brugnaro said that most visitors had already paid the fee in advance and that the checks were conducted without problems, thanks to the efficiency of the 60 stewards at the city’s main access points. For those who had not yet paid, information points were set up to provide assistance.
The experiment will continue throughout 2024 with further days in which the payment of the access fee is expected, with the aim of collecting data and evaluating the effectiveness of the measure. The Municipality has set up a network of controls with 75 informant stewards and 40 verifiers to ensure that visitors are in compliance with the contribution, with fines expected between 50 and 300 euros for those who do not respect the rules.
The hope is that the contribution will help reduce daily tourism and better manage tourist flows in the city.
