tourism
Five euros for Venice – chaos at the beginning
A group of tourists in front of the Doge’s Palace in the center of Venice. photo
© Christoph Sator/dpa
Venice is the first city in the world to now charge admission to day visitors. Because of the many exceptions, there are some questions. Even a prominent visitor doesn’t have to pay anything.
As the first city in the world to demand this Venice now allows entry for day visitors – and caused a bit of chaos at the start. Especially around the train station, tourists wandered around with backpacks and suitcases after arriving from the mainland, without knowing whether they would have to pay the five euros or not.
The new regulation will initially apply in a test phase lasting 29 days until mid-July. There is no upper limit for the number of tourists that the city will be closed upon reaching. It will only be decided later whether this will continue next year.
With around 15 million guests per year, the Italian lagoon city is one of the most visited travel destinations in the world. Mass tourism brings a lot of money into the Venetians’ coffers, but is now also causing them a lot of trouble. Last year, Venice was on the verge of being placed on a Red List of World Heritage in Danger by the United Nations. This could just about be prevented with the help of the fee that has now been introduced. Other well-visited cities such as Amsterdam, Barcelona and Dubrovnik are now closely following Venice’s experiences.
Lots of inquiries from tourists at information stands
At the start, the city authorities set up information stands where the arrivals from the mainland were welcomed. There were repeated questions about who has to pay now and how this happens. In principle, all day guests pay five euros between 8:30 a.m. and 4:00 p.m. To do this, you should get a QR code online and upload it to your cell phone. Otherwise, a fine of up to 300 euros may be due.
However, Mayor Luigi Brugnaro initially promised “very gentle controls”. In any case, in the first few hours there was no fine. At the same time, the center-right politician asked for understanding: “I apologize for the inconvenience. But we can’t just talk. We have a duty to preserve the city for the next generations.”
According to the administration, more than 100,000 people registered their stay on Thursday alone. However, only around 8,000 of them had actually paid admission by Wednesday evening. All others are locals, overnight guests or other visitors for whom there are exceptions, it said. These include, for example, commuters, students and children under 14. Overnight guests also need a QR code, but they get it free of charge from the hotel or landlord. There were initially no more precise figures as to how many people booked in on Thursday – or hoped to avoid entry.
Tens of thousands of guest beds
The flow of visitors from all over the world has been causing major problems for the city on the Adriatic for many years. Today there are no longer 50,000 permanent residents in the center with its hundreds of canals. There are more than 50,000 guest beds for this purpose. On many days it is almost impossible to get through the narrow streets around St. Mark’s Square and the Rialto Bridge. You can see in some of the buildings how much tourism is affecting them. Even St. Mark’s Tower is crumbling. The income will therefore later be used to renovate canals, streets and buildings.
The city’s tourism officer, Simone Venturini, expressly stated that the aim was to deter day visitors in times when there are, as experience has shown, a particularly large number of guests. In street surveys, visitors to Venice, almost without exception, said that they would not be deterred by five euros. Just as regularly, almost all tourists complained that there were too many tourists in the city. There is also talk of increasing the fee next year and extending it to additional days. Several hundred residents who believe the fee is senseless gathered to protest.
The regulation came into force on Thursday because April 25th is a public holiday in Italy to commemorate the end of the German occupation in 1945. Because of the May 1st holiday, many Italians are using the coming days for an extremely long weekend. In addition, high-ranking visitors are expected in Venice on Sunday: Pope Francis is coming to the city for a few hours to visit the art biennale that is currently underway. Of course, there is an exception for the head of the Catholic Church: Francis does not have to pay anything.