The Italian city of Venice has imposed a fee for daily entrances in order to combat excessive tourism. The application, which is a first in the world, started yesterday.
On the first day, 15 thousand 700 people were able to enter the city by paying a fee of 5 euros each.
It is estimated that nearly 30 million tourists visit Venice annually, whose population has fallen to around 50 thousand. Since most of them are daily visitors and the city is exposed to the negative effects of mass tourism during busy holiday periods, the proposal to charge entrance fees to the city has been discussed for years.
The application, which was postponed for several years due to the pandemic, finally started yesterday. It will be necessary to pay 5 euros for daily entrances to the city on 29 days, which are expected to be busy, such as weekends, from April 25, which is a holiday in Italy due to the Independence Day, until mid-July.
Those who want to visit the city between these dates will register on the Venice Municipality’s website and, if a fee is required, pay and receive a QR code.
Those staying at tourist facilities in the city will be exempt from the entrance fee since they already pay a daily tax to the municipality. Residents of the region, those working and studying in the city, and children under the age of 14 will be able to enter Venice free of charge.
The entrance fee will be valid between 08.30 and 16.00.
Tax deduction for local people
On Thursday, when the application started, 15 thousand 700 people paid the 5 euro contribution. Mayor Luigi Brugnaro said that the application was not made to generate revenue, but if it is successful, they are considering cutting local taxes for city residents.
On the other hand, it is commented that the aim of the application to reduce the number of tourists on busy days has not yet been achieved.
It was shared that 113 thousand people made reservations on the municipality’s registration platform, and most of them were those who had homes in the city and their relatives, students, workers and hotel customers. However, the requirement that those exempt from the entrance fee must also register created confusion and became a cause for complaint.
It started with protests
Checkpoints were set up yesterday at major entry points into Venice, such as Santa Lucia Train Station. Those who did not pay online could also buy ‘tickets’ from these points. 60 officers checked thousands of people at the entrance points and 75 in the rest of the city.
On the first day, there was no news about fines being imposed for rule violations. However, penalties of 50 to 300 euros are foreseen for violations.
The first day of the implementation also witnessed protests organized by city residents and associations. In the protest of groups such as Venessia.com and the Social Council for Home (ASC), it was argued that the entrance fee approved the transformation of the city into an amusement park. Demonstrators emphasized that such practices are far from solving the problems of city residents such as housing, and also negatively affect the image of the city.
There are also objections to the entrance fee project, which has been discussed for years, on the grounds that it violates people’s right to free movement. Massimo Cacciari, one of the former mayors of Venice, also described the entrance ticket as “complete madness, completely illegitimate, unconstitutional”.
The number of tourist beds is more than the population
The population loss in the center of Venice, also associated with mass tourism, causes warnings from local people and politicians, as well as institutions such as the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO).
While the population of the city was around 175 thousand 70 years ago, it has dropped below 50 thousand today. Last year, it was announced that the number of beds for tourist accommodation in Venice (49 thousand 693) exceeded the fixed population (49 thousand 304). Just 15 years ago, when the city’s population was 60 thousand, it had a tourist bed capacity of 12 thousand.
A study published by Ca’ Foscari University in Venice in 2018 showed that the number of tourists the city could handle was limited to 19 million per year, but the current number was around 28 million.
It is planned to ban tourist groups of more than 25 people from entering the city as of next June.
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