The city of Venice, in northeastern Italy, is considering increase income rate to the city in 2025: it could go from the current 5 euros to 10 euros on the days of greatest influx of visitors.
The famous City of Canals receives, each year, to more than 32 million tourists.
When did the city of Venice start charging for access?
The entry “toll”, which It began to be charged on April 25, 2024. as a test to alleviate the pressure of mass tourism in Venice, ended this Sunday, July 14, with nearly 2.25 million euros raised for the payment of some 450,000 tourists, according to data from the City Council.
“Venice is still too cheap”declared the city’s Tourism Councilor, Simone Venturini, to the local media, for whom the time has come to “think about a greater contribution of access to put an end to excess tourism”.
highly criticized for the Venetians, who consider it exclusively revenue-raisingthis pioneering initiative aims to reduce tourism in a city that receives daily peaks of up to 100,000 tourists.
Only applies to day visitorsnot those who spend the night or residents, whose number has recently been reduced to less than 50,000 for the first time in its history.
Change of fee
After 29 days of “positive” experimentation for the City Council, they are now thinking about a broader schedule next yearas well as the modification of the rate, establishing a basic rate of 3 euros for those who book in advance, but raising the price of the ticket to 10 euros on the busiest days.
Some days, the city receives up to 100,000 visitors. Photo ANDREA PATTARO / AFP“It has allowed us to collect data that we did not have. Now It’s time to study the numbers and organize the calendar for 2025with all the news that will follow,” declared Budget Councilor Michele Zuin.
War on mass tourism in Venice
According to him, “the first experimental phase did not show significant deterrent effects, but we didn’t expect them. The situation will change when the maximum ticket increases to 10 euros,” which is “what the law allows us, depending on flows and reserves.”
It is “an attempt to reverse the trend,” so that people “do not come to Venice when they have vacations, but rather take vacations to go to Venice when possible,” Zuin added, highlighting that the decline in bookings The parking lot shows that tourism that visits the city as if it were a theme park has stopped.
Venice plans to increase access fees. Photo César de Luca“Venice cannot contain all the people in the world,” so “we have to choose what kind of people we want bring to a city that offers a unique experience in the world, but within a finite space,” according to Venturini.
In total, 449,912 payments were recorded for a value of 2,249,560 million euros, which triples the 700,000 euros planned and included in the budget for this measure that residents consider insufficient.
“For us it has been a success. The world was watching us, it was a kind of international breakthrough, because never before in the history of a city had such a measure been introduced. The media around the world have understood and publicized the unique condition of Venice,” said Venturini.