Venice’s entry fee leads to bigger crowds

Birthday parties, aperitifs, organised groups, daytrippers; the weekend arrived and the centre of Venice seemed no different from any other spring weekend, despite the introduction, from April 25, of the ‘access fee’, the €5 tax that non-Venetian day visitors, who are not staying or working in the city, must pay.

Almost 22,000 paying visitors were registered on day 2 of the experiment and the photos of the overflowing streets caused those who oppose the charge and who have always been critical of the measure, to protest.

“As we have repeatedly said, the entry ticket not only complicates the lives of residents (they have to register their exemption online) but also does absolutely nothing to limit numbers, on the one hand because the Venetians are exempt and on the other because it is not a deterrent as we can see. The city council should stop, admit that the measure does not work, and open a serious discussion on the management of tourism in this city”, said Monica Sambo, city councillor of the Democratic Party.

“As is already clear from these early days of the ticket’s application, the measure is completely useless for the purpose of controlling tourist flows, it only serves to make cash”, said Gianfranco Bettin, councillor of the Progressive Green party.

Action Venice though, takes the opposite view: “The city is unliveable and if the ticket is the first step towards finding practicable solutions or at least acquiring data, it is welcome”, said a spokesperson.