Tourists strolling in Venice city amid travel crowds
Visitors have returned to Venice, with outsiders often outnumbering the city centre’s 50,000 residents, who have come to dominate the narrow streets and put the daily fee back on the mayor’s agenda. (Source: Reuters)
- Venice has launched a pilot program to charge day-trippers an entrance fee in an effort to reduce the influx of tourists on peak days.
- City officials have voiced the need to balance tourism and residents’ needs with the aim of protecting places for local people.
- The pilot project aims to provide accurate data on tourist numbers to better manage over-tourism.
Amid worldwide media attention, the delicate lagoon city of Venice launched a pilot program on Thursday that will charge day-trippers a $5.35 entrance fee, which officials hope will encourage tourists to come during peak days. will be discouraged and the city will become more livable for its declining number of residents.
visitors are coming in venice The test phase of the plan at the main train station was greeted with large signs listing dates from July 29 through July 29, as well as new entrances separating tourists from residents, students and workers.
Managers were on hand to politely guide anyone unaware of the new requirements through the process of downloading the QR code to pay the fee.
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“We need to find a new balance between tourists and residents,” said Simone Venturini, the city’s top tourism official. “We certainly need to protect residents’ locations, and we need to discourage day-trippers on certain days.”
Managers check tourists’ QR code access outside the main train station in Venice, Italy on April 25, 2024. Venice has launched a pilot program to charge day-trippers an entrance fee, with officials hoping to discourage tourists from visiting on peak days. The city is becoming more livable for its declining number of residents. (AP Photo/Luca Bruno)
Ariana Cecilia, who lives in Rome and was visiting Venice for the first time with her boyfriend, said she found it “weird” to buy a ticket to enter a city in her native Italy and then go through a tourist entrance. Put.
The couple were staying in nearby Treviso, and had paid the fee and downloaded the QR code as required prior to arrival.
Activists wearing yellow vests conducted random checks at the train station, and anyone caught faced a fine of 50 euros to 300 euros – although officials said “common sense” was being applied for the launch.
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This requirement only applies to visitors between 8:30 a.m. and 4 p.m. Outside these hours, access is free and uncontrolled.
Venice has long struggled with the pressure of over-tourism, and officials hope the pilot project can help provide more accurate data to better manage the phenomenon.
The city can track the number of hotel visitors – which was down 16% last year to 4.6 million highest level before the pandemic, But the number of daytime visitors, who make up the majority of Venice’s crowds, could only be estimated until recently.
A smart control room set up during the pandemic is tracking arrivals from cell phone data, said Michel Zuin, the city’s top economic official. . This includes both day visitors and night visitors.
But Zuin said the data is incomplete. “It is clear that we will get more reliable data from the contributions that day trippers are paying,” he said.
Venturini said the city becomes stressed when the number of commuters reaches 30,000 to 40,000 a day. Its narrow streets are packed with people and water taxis are clogged, making it difficult for residents to go about their business.
However, not all residents agree with the efficacy of the new system in preventing mass tourism. Some say there needs to be more focus on increasing the resident population and the services they need.
Venice passed a remarkable milestone last year when the number of tourist beds exceeded the number of official residents for the first time, which is now less than 50,000 in the historic center with its picturesque canals.
“Introducing tickets to enter a city will not reduce the number of visitors by one unit,” said Tommaso Cacciari, an activist who organized Thursday’s protest against the measure.
“You pay a ticket to take the subway, to go to a museum, to an amusement park; you don’t pay a ticket to enter a city. This is the last symbolic step in the project of the idea of this municipal administration. “Venetians,” he said.
Venturini said about 6,000 people have already paid to download the QR code, and officials expect paid day-tripper arrivals to reach about 10,000 on Thursday.
More than 70,000 others have downloaded a QR code including a discount for working in Venice or as a resident of the Veneto region. People staying in hotels in Venice, including mainland districts such as Marghera or Mestre, must obtain a QR code authenticating their stay, which includes the hotel tax.
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tourism officer says Venice’s pilot program has also seen increased interest in other locations suffering from mass tourism, including other Italian art cities and foreign cities such as Barcelona and Amsterdam.
Marina Rodino, who has lived in Venice for 30 years, is against the new plan. She was issuing fake EU passports for “Venice, the Open City”, underscoring the irony of the new system, and challenging its legal status with quotes from the Italian Constitution, which grants its citizens “any also confers the right to move freely or to reside freely.” National Territory.”
Rodino has watched his local butcher close and families leave his neighborhood near the famous Rialto Bridge due to rising short-term apartment rentals. But he said requiring the new entry fee would still allow youth to flock to the city for often rowdy gatherings in the evening.
“This is not a natural oasis. This is not a museum. This is not Pompeii,” he said. “This is a city where we need to fight so families can stay home and shops can reopen. That’s what will combat this wild tourism.”
