Venice leads tourists by gondola. The municipality on Tuesday started selling five-euro entry tickets, which are applied in spring and summer to tourists coming for just one day in the Doge’s city, a victim of mass tourism. For a total of 29 days in the period from April 25 to July 14, the peak tourist season, day tourists will need to purchase this ticket to enter the Old Town between 8:30 am and 4 pm.
Disappointing tourists
The ticket-buying site went live in English and Italian on Tuesday. However, numerous exemptions are granted, particularly for those under the age of 14, students or members of the police. No limit on the number of visitors is planned under the programme, which was approved last year.
The project, announced in September, aims mainly to prevent day visitors who contribute to congestion in the city, which is famous worldwide for its works of art, its bridges and its canals. Venice has been a UNESCO World Heritage Site since 1987.
“It’s not a revolution”
“Venice is the first city in the world to implement this system, which can serve as an example for other fragile cities (…) that must be protected,” its mayor, Luigi Brugnaro, declared in November, when the municipality announced the dates. Application of this tax.
“It’s not a revolution but the first step in a system that controls access for day visitors,” Mr. Brugnaro explained, clarifying that the objective was “quality of life in the city.” In mid-September, the city of Venice narrowly escaped being listed as a UNESCO World Heritage Site in peril.
However, UNESCO experts in late July recommended the “endangered” classification of Venice, a gem threatened by over-tourism and global warming due to “inadequate” measures taken in Italy to combat the site’s deterioration.
About 3.2 million tourists spent the night in Venice’s historic center in 2022, according to official data, a figure that does not include the thousands of visitors who only visit for the day.
