Venice starts fight against ‘wild’ overtourism with day-tripper access fee

VENICE, Italy (AP) — Under the gaze of the worldwide media, the fragile lagoon city of Venice launched a pilot program Thursday that will charge day trippers a 5-euro (about $5.35) entrance fee, officials said. hopes this will discourage visitors from visiting. off peak days and make the city more livable for its dwindling residents.

Visitors arriving at Venice’s main train station were greeted with large signs listing the dates of the scheme’s testing phase from July 29 to July 29, as well as new entrances separating tourists from residents, students and workers. were also given.

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.

“We need to find a new balance between tourists and residents,” said Simone Venturini, the city’s top tourism official. “Certainly, we need to protect residents’ places, and we need to protect them on certain days. There is a need to discourage the arrival of day-trippers.”

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 in the run-up to the launch.

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 totaled 4.6 million last year, down 16% from its pre-pandemic high. 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 filled 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 this municipal administration’s idea of ​​projecting out the inhabitants of Venice,” 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.

Tourist officials say interest in Venice’s pilot program has also grown in other places suffering from mass tourism, including other Italian art cities and cities abroad 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 reside.” 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. “This is what will counter this wild tourism.”