Ex-mayor urges tourists not to pay fee to enter Venice
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Tourists should refuse to pay the “absurd” €5 entrance fee to Venice when it is introduced on Thursday, the city’s former mayor said.
Day-trippers to Venice are already overcharged for restaurants and public transport and should not have to cough up another €5 (£4.30) to access the city, said Massimo Cacciari.
“It’s pure madness, it’s totally illegitimate and it’s unconstitutional – in no city in the world do you have to pay to enter,” he said, “it seems absurd to me.”
“Tourists in Venice already pay three times as much as residents for public transport tickets. They pay for museums. They pay for everything. I would invite everyone to not pay.
“I would love to see the city authorities have to justify in a court the legitimacy of imposing a tax on entering the city,” said Mr Cacciari, a philosopher and high-profile public figure in Italy who was mayor of Venice from 1993 until 2000 and again from 2005 until 2010.
“What are they going to do, block people’s movement, send out the police to ask to see everyone’s papers to see if they have paid the entrance fee?” he told Adnkronos, an Italian news agency.
Venice will become the first city in the world to charge an entry fee when the scheme starts on Thursday.
It will apply in total to 29 of the busiest days between now and July.
The aim is to try to reduce the number of day-trippers who descend on the city, choking its narrow alleyways and bridges and making life difficult for locals, who have now dwindled to just 50,000.
Day-trippers typically trudge a well-worn path between the Rialto Bridge and St Mark’s Square, causing congestion and a strain on services
Tourists who spend at least one night in a hotel are exempt from paying the charge on the basis that they contribute more to the economy.
Around 30 million tourists flock to Venice each year and of those, 21 million are day-trippers.
Simone Venturini, the councillor in charge of tourism, said it was “no magic wand” but part of a wider strategy of trying to manage overtourism.
“We want to discourage day-trippers from visiting Venice during these 29 designated days,” he said outside Venice’s railway station, where police and officials will conduct spot checks on tourists from Thursday morning to see if they have paid the entrance fee and downloaded a QR code on their phone.
“Fewer day-trippers does not mean less revenue because overnight tourists are more important to the economy of the city. We will see the results in the medium- to long-term and in the meantime we will assess how it goes.”
Depending on how successful it is in reducing visitor numbers, it could be extended.
The booking system will also enable Venetian authorities to know how many tourists will arrive in the city on any given day so that they can better plan public transport and rubbish collection, Mr Venturini said.
