Visitors to Venice will be charged entry to the Italian city from today under a controversial plan.
Officials say the pilot program is designed to discourage tourists from arriving on peak days and make the city more livable for residents.
Signs have been placed outside the main train station and other entry points informing arriving visitors of the new 5 euro (£4.28) fare during a 29-day trial phase until July.
Around 200 flight attendants have been trained to politely escort anyone unaware of the charge through the process of downloading a QR code, with a kiosk set up for anyone not equipped with a smartphone.
Tourists queue at the information center to register and receive a QR code. Photo: Reuters
Tourists queue at the information center to register and receive a QR code. Photo: Reuters
Officials will carry out random checks on people beyond ports of entry from 8.30am to 4pm, to ensure they have paid the excursion tax or are exempt.
Violators face fines of between €50 and €300 (£53 and £257).
Outside the hours of 8:30 a.m. to 4:00 p.m. access is free.
“We need to find a new balance between tourists and residents,” said the city’s top tourism official, Simone Venturini.
“Of course, we must safeguard residents’ spaces and discourage hikers from arriving on certain days.”
Tourists show the QR code on a smartphone to confirm their payment. Photo: Reuters
An official checks that a tourist has a QR code on their smartphone to prove payment of a fee for the day. Photo: Reuters
Venice has long suffered from the pressures of overtourism. Many come to see a World Heritage site, famous around the world for its medieval architecture packed into a picturesque network of canals.
Officials say pre-pandemic estimates of between 25 and 30 million visitors a year – including hikers – are unreliable and that the pilot project also aims to obtain more accurate figures to help better manage the phenomenon.
By contrast, registered overnight visitors last year totaled 4.6 million, according to city figures, down 16% from pre-pandemic highs.
Venturini said the city was affected when the number of day-trippers reached between 30,000 and 40,000, leaving its narrow alleyways clogged with people and water taxis overcrowded, causing problems for residents in their daily lives.
Venice has long suffered from severe overcrowding during peak tourist periods. stock photo
However, some residents are not convinced that the plan will prevent mass tourism.
Some say more attention needs to be paid to increasing the resident population and the services they need.
Venice passed a milestone last year when the number of tourist spots surpassed for the first time the number of official residents, who now number less than 50,000 in the historic center.
“Putting a ticket to enter a city will not reduce by a single unit the number of visitors who come,” said Tommaso Cacciari, an activist who organized a protest against the measures today.
A controlling officer directs tourists to the information center where they can register to pay the fee. Photo: Reuters
“You pay a ticket to take the subway, to go to a museum, to an amusement park; you do not pay a ticket to enter a city. This is the last symbolic step of a project of an idea of this municipal administration to expel to the residents of Venice.”
But Venturini said about 6,000 people had already paid to download the QR code, and officials expect arrivals of paid hikers today to reach about 10,000.
More than 70,000 people have downloaded a QR code indicating an exemption, including for working in Venice or as a resident of the Veneto region.
And, Venturini noted, Venice may not be the last major European city to introduce an entry fee.
He said the pilot program was being closely followed by other places suffering from mass tourism, including other Italian arts cities and the weekend resorts of Barcelona and Amsterdam.