On its busiest days, Venice is overrun with tourists, who clog the city's narrow streets, leaving behind piles of trash and often frustrating local residents. So cities across the canal are fighting back.
Starting April 25 and continuing through mid-July for an additional 29 days, mainly on holidays and weekends, day trippers to Venice's historic center will have to pay 5 euros (about $5.40), but city officials say The hope is that this will encourage people to travel. Please come during off-peak hours.
Additionally, all visitors to Venice must register to be in the city on specified days, allowing authorities to understand the expected number of visitors and strategize on how to respond. You will need to fill out an online form that will help you.
“It's not about making money. The cost of doing business is higher than what we expect to earn,” Mayor Luigi Brugnaro told reporters on Thursday, as Venetian authorities launched a global advertising campaign. Ta. Instead, Michele Zuin, the city clerk in charge of budget and economics, said the aim was to “better manage tourist numbers and, for example, the incentives for large numbers of tourists that create difficulties in living in this city.” “The goal is to eliminate this.”
Visitors staying overnight in Venice do not have to pay a fee, nor do people visiting Venice for work, visiting relatives, or studying. People born in the city and minors under the age of 14 are also exempt. And Brugnaro said there is no limit to the number of visitors allowed in.
Rising impossibly above the waters of Venice's lagoon, this city is as delicate as it is beautiful. In recent decades, it has struggled to protect its identity, which is threatened by climate change, rising sea levels and mass tourism.
To combat this figurative and literal erosion, the city installed giant gates at the lagoon's four mouths to prevent seawater from seeping in and the pavement from drying out, and banned cruise ships from entering and exiting the inner canal. These efforts have led to Venice being removed from UNESCO's list of World Heritage Sites in Danger, even after Venice experts last year expressed concern that Italy was not doing enough to protect the city. I was able to do that.
Italy had allocated funds for Venice's protection from 1976 until this year, but on Thursday Mr. Brugnaro rebuked the central government for not renewing that funding. He said he had asked the government for €1.5 billion over the next 10 years to help preserve the city, which has a unique heritage that requires ongoing upkeep.
“We need that money,” he said.
At times, days have been so crowded with tourists that the city has had to restrict some streets to one-way pedestrian traffic.
Simone Venturini, the city's tourism official, said of the new measures: “We will be the first city in the world to know exactly how many tourists will be coming to Venice on any given day. Tourists, whether exempt or paid, will be able to register. is necessary,” he said. ”
After registering on the website, visitors receive a QR code (valid from 8:30 a.m. to 4:00 p.m.) that they must present when entering the city at train stations, Piazzale Roma, municipal parking lots and other locations. there is. Beachfront location and Piazza San Marco. On-site inspections will also be conducted throughout the city.
For now, anyone who arrives in Venice without a QR code will be allowed to buy one at the last minute on a smartphone or at a kiosk installed at an access point, officials said.
Violators face fines of between 50 and 300 euros, plus a 10-euro fee, Zuin said.
He said the initiative is being piloted so city officials can see if the system works and how it can be improved. In the future, admission prices may be adjusted depending on the day (Mayor Brugnaro said it will be a “sliding scale of prices”).
“We are asking for cooperation,” Brugnaro said, adding that the data accumulated over the past 29 days will be made public. He said officials from other cities around the world have contacted the administration to learn more about the access system.
More than 50,000 people have registered through the website so far, with about a third paying for a day visit, officials said.
“The whole world wants to come to Venice,” Venturini said at the introduction of the advertising campaign. The ad campaign included video messages of the mayor speaking in different languages using AI-generated voice translation.
Mayor Brugnaro apologized in a video for any inconvenience the new system may cause. But “the city must be protected,” he said.