Hundreds of Italians held up banners and passports expressing anger at the day-trip tourist fee regulation in Venice, effective from April 25.
On the first day of Venice’s toll collection, several protests took place against Venice being “turned into a museum or amusement park”. The largest protest took place at Piazzale Roma, one of the main entrances to the city by road, with more than 300 people. Another, smaller protest took place near the city’s main train station.
April 25 is a historic day in Venice – Italian Liberation Day and the day of St Mark, the city’s patron saint. April 25 this year continued to make new history: Venice became the first city in the world to charge an entrance fee for tourists who do not stay overnight.
Ruggero Tallon, one of the protest organizers, said his group planned to erect a banner with the words: “Welcome visitors to Veniceland” (a play on words intended to mock the city as a public park). entertainment staff when visitors come to visit and have to spend 5 euros to buy tickets). His group also printed fake tickets to Venice and distributed them to passersby to show their protest. However, the police stopped the issuance of these fake tickets.
“A ticket has no effect,” Tallon said about the measure of charging same-day arrivals to reduce tourist overload. He believes that this is not a way to relieve pressure on Venice but is just “a medieval tax, against the right to move freely”.
Contributo di accesso (contribution fee when visiting) costs 5 euros. Entrance fee to Venice is charged to daily visitors to the old town from 8:30 a.m. to 4:00 p.m. Overnight guests, children under 14 years old, people with disabilities and city residents, and people coming to Venice for work are exempt. The city has not set a limit on the number of tickets sold per day.
Supervisors check tickets at main entrances to the city such as the Santa Lucia train station from 8:00 a.m. to 4:00 p.m. on April 25. Guests who have not yet purchased tickets are instructed to buy them on the spot. Online tickets are on sale from January 16. Those who intentionally violate or avoid buying tickets can be fined 10 to 60 times more.
It is one of the world’s most popular tourist destinations with 3.2 million overnight stays by 2022 while the city’s population is only about 50,000 people. The number of visitors reached tens of thousands of people in the narrow streets, St Mark’s Square and the famous Rialto Bridge. Most are visitors arriving from cruise ships.
Local authorities said that charging tourists during the day is intended to encourage them to avoid visiting during peak times, reducing tourist overload, leading to damage to ecosystems and historical sites that need to be protected. According to the original plan, the city only collects arrival fees on 29 peak days of 2024, mainly weekends from May to July, from 8:00 a.m. to 4:00 p.m. Guests arriving before or after this time do not have to purchase tickets. Guests staying overnight, residents of Venice or those coming to the city for work are exempt.
Crowd protesting in Venice on April 25. Image: Reuters
Tallon said instead of charging fees, the government should resettle the city, creating conditions for people to live well here.
Elena Gastaldello, president of Arci (Italian Cultural and Entertainment Association), also participated in yesterday’s protest. She said the entrance fee “will not control the number of visitors” because the government does not limit the number of tickets sold on the day. In addition, this measure does not come with urban development policies. “Basically charging customers doesn’t solve any problem,” Elena said.
A spokesman for the Venice Mayor’s Office said 113,000 visitors registered in the city on the first day of which more than 10% paid the entrance fee.
To prepare for the first day of toll collection, authorities set up checkpoints outside train and bus stations, with separate routes for “residents” and “tourists”. A booth outside the train station was set up for people to buy tickets or show exemption documents.
Tourists take souvenir photos while standing on the bridge in Venice. Image: Nguyen Anh Lukas
Italy is not the first country to find ways to reduce mass tourism. In Spain, a country with the highest number of international visitors in Europe, tens of thousands of people protested on April 20 to demand that the government limit the number of visitors to the Canary Islands, a tourist destination. to attract tourists no less than Venice.
Venice Mayor Luigi Brugnaro described the plan to charge tourists as “an experiment” and a “first in the world”. “Our goal is to make Venice more livable,” he said.
Venice consists of more than 100 large and small islands located in northeast Italy, considered one of the most beautiful cities in the world, recognized by UNESCO as a World Heritage Site in 1987. In 2023, Venice “escaped” from being included in the list. UNESCO’s list of heritage sites in danger after local authorities applied an entrance fee policy effective from April 25.
In 2021, Venice imposed a docking ban on large cruise ships carrying thousands of passengers, rerouted these ships to dock at a more distant industrial port, and imposed taxes on overnight guests. The mayor of Venice said the new fees would be applied “gently” with “very pleasant” controls and no need to queue.