Venice charges tourists €10 to visit the city first in the world as officials set up online booking system to combat overcrowding
- World first: day-trippers pay a fixed amount to enter the city – or get a fine
- Rule breakers risk a €300 (£260) fine if they don’t show the booking QR code
- More than three quarters of visitors to Venice – 19 million in 2019 – go for just a day
- Number of tourists reduces local population during holidays, crowded bridges and canals
Venice becomes the first city in the world to charge tourists an entrance fee in an effort to curb the number of visitors crowding into the small center of the island.
From January, day-trippers to the Italian canal city will have to pay three to ten euros (£2.60 to £8.60) depending on the season and whether they’ve booked in advance.
Tourists who are unable to present a QR code providing the payment risk a fine of up to €300 (£260).
Venetians have long complained about the crowds of visitors who flock to the city in the summer.
The city’s declining population has long been complaining about the mass of tourists
Venice’s hot spots, such as Piazza San Marco, pictured in June, are visited by millions every year
The town long called ‘La Serenissima’ (‘The Most Serene’) is no longer peaceful.
The miniature main island, which measures 2 square kilometers and is populated by 50,000 permanent residents, was visited by 19 million people in 2019.
That’s an average of 52,000 a day – and in high season that number can double.
Venice Marco Polo local airport is also the fourth busiest in Italy, with 11.2 million passengers in 2018.
Yet more than three quarters of the people who gather in St. Mark’s Square do so for just one day.
That also means they spend a lot less money than those who stay overnight.
But guests who choose to stay overnight in the city are exempt from the reservation system
City landmark Chiesa di San Trovaso is pictured while a few tourists sit in a Venice gondola
Overnight guests already pay a city tax of one to five euros per night and are exempt from the reservation system.
Venice banned cruise ships from sailing the lagoon city last summer to preserve its World Heritage status.
The nearby industrial port of Monfalcone, on the Gulf of Trieste, instead got busy with the huge cruises.
Tourism Commissioner Simone Venturini said at a news conference yesterday: “We will not talk about number restrictions. We are talking about incentives and obstacles.’
Last year, Venice banned cruise ships from docking close to the famous lagoon (file image)
She added that the new system will be ‘easy for visitors’ and ‘reduce friction between day-trippers and residents’.
Local newspaper Corriere della Sera wrote of the announcement: “Venice is starting to look more and more like Disneyland.”
Exceptions to the allowances are made for children under six, people with disabilities and people who own a home or timeshare in Venice, provided they pay council tax.
Venice has been frequented by tourists from all over the world since the 1960s and has been a cultural and financial capital of Europe since the Italian Renaissance.
Yet the population has steadily declined amid logistical challenges such as the high cost of food delivery, problematic access to ambulances to homes, and frequent flooding of homes and businesses.