Venice introduces first payment charge for tourists
STORY: In an effort to thin the huge crowds visiting in peak holiday season, Venice became the first city in the world to introduce a payment system for tourists on Thursday (April 25).
Signs warning day-trippers about the new 5-euro, or just over five dollar ($5.35) charge were set up outside the train station and near an entry footbridge.
Simone Venturini is responsible for tourism and social cohesion in Venice.
"So we are just trying to discourage arriving from day trippers in 29 particular days and finding a new way to know in advance how many people will arrive in Venice the day after."
April 25 is a national holiday in Italy.
It's also the first of 29 days this year when people must buy a ticket if they want to access the lagoon city from 8.30 a.m. to 4.30 p.m.
People with hotel reservations and visitors aged under 14 do not need to pay the entry fee, but still need to register online beforehand.
Residents, students and workers are exempt.
Cristian Diakile is a tourist visiting from Padua in Italy.
"I don't think it's fair. I mean, you're already paying for a lot of stuff, for museums, to go around, to eat, to sleep, the hotels, and paying to enter inside a city I don't think it's fair."
Ticketing this year is in an experimental phase, Venturini says, and prices to visit could increase at certain times of the year.
Reservations should be made online - but there is also a booth for those without smartphones.
There are no turn-stiles at the city gateways though inspectors will carry out random checks.
Fines of between 50 and 300 euros will be issued to anyone who has failed to register.
Some 20 million people visited Venice last year, a city official said.
The influx dwarfs the resident population currently put at around 49,000.
Venice narrowly escaped being placed on UNESCO's "World Heritage in Danger" list last year.
That, in part, was because the U.N. body concluded the city was addressing concerns that its delicate ecosystem risked being overwhelmed by mass tourism.
Besides introducing the entry charge, the city has also banned large cruise ships from sailing into the Venetian lagoon and announced new limits on the size of tourist groups.
