‘Are we joking?’: Venice residents protest as city starts charging visitors to enter
29.04.2024 - 11:23
/ theguardian.com
/ Luigi Brugnaro
Authorities in Venice have been accused of transforming the famous lagoon city into a “theme park” as a long-mooted entrance fee for day trippers comes into force.
Venice is the first major city in the world to enact such a scheme. The €5 (£4.30) charge, which comes into force today, is aimed at protecting the Unesco world heritage site from the effects of excessive tourism by deterring day trippers and, according to the mayor, Luigi Brugnaro, making the city “livable” again.
But several residents’ committees and associations have planned protests for Thursday, arguing that the fee will do nothing to resolve the issue.
“I can tell you that almost the entire city is against it,” claimed Matteo Secchi, who leads Venessia.com, a residents’ activist group. “You can’t impose an entrance fee to a city; all they’re doing is transforming it into a theme park. This is a bad image for Venice … I mean, are we joking?”
Once the heart of a powerful maritime republic, Venice’s main island has lost more than 120,000 residents since the early 1950s, driven away by a number of issues but predominantly a focus on mass tourism that has caused the population to be dwarfed by the thousands of visitors who crowd its squares, bridges and narrow walkways at the busiest times of the year.
The entrance fee, which is required only for access to Venice’s historic centre, is bookable online and will apply on 29 peak days, mostly weekends, from Thursday until 14 July as part of its trial phase.
Residents, commuters, students and children under the age of 14 are exempt, as are tourists who stay overnight.
Day trippers, however, will be required to buy their ticket online and will then be provided with a QR code. Those without one will be able to buy a ticket on arrival, with the help of local stewards, who will also carry out random checks at five main arrival points including Santa Lucia train station. Those without a ticket risk fines of between €50 and €300.
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Venice council said 5,500 people had booked a ticket for 25 April, a national holiday in Italy, bringing €27,500 to the city’s coffers on its first day. Although Brugnaro has denied it is a money-making initiative, he has promised to cut local taxes for residents if the scheme is successful.
Federica Toninello, who leads ASC, an association for housing, said: “They think this measure will solve the problem, but they haven’t really understood the consequences of mass tourism on a city like Venice.
“For a start, €5 will do nothing to deter people. But day trippers aren’t the issue; things like the shortage of affordable