Day Tickets Are Introduced by Venice To Combat Mass Tourism

Venice: The inspectors are ready, and the ticket office is set up. In an effort to lessen the impact of mass tourism, Venice will start charging day visitors on Thursday to enter the ancient Italian city.

A five-euro ($5.3) ticket is required for access into the UNESCO World Heritage site for anybody visiting throughout the day. Inspectors will conduct spot checks at important entry points.
Venice is one of the most popular tourist attractions in the world and is regarded as one of the world’s most beautiful cities, but the crowds are getting to the city.

To encourage day-trippers to come at slower periods, the experimental scheme will only need so-called Access Fee tickets for 29 busiest days during 2024, mostly weekends from May to July.

Tourism councillor Simone Venturini told AFP that “the aim is to find a new balance between tourism and the city of its residents.”

“We must work to reduce the impact of daily tourism on certain days… (which) generates stress for the city,” , he said.

The plan is being keenly observed as travel hotspots worldwide struggle with a flood of visitors who, while boosting the local economy, run the danger of overtaxing local populations and destroying historic monuments and delicate ecosystems.

A UNESCO advisory

Northeastern Italy’s Venice, which is comprised of over a hundred tiny islands and islets, was inducted as a World Heritage site by UNESCO in 1987.

However, it is generally believed that the quantity of people traveling to witness what the UN cultural organization refers to as a “extraordinary architectural masterpiece” is unsustainable.

At its busiest, 100,000 overnight guests stay in Venice’s historic center, more than twice as many as the city’s 50,000 locals.

Every day, tens of thousands more people, mostly from cruise ships, swarm the city’s winding streets to take in the attractions, which include the Rialto Bridge and St. Mark’s Square.

Last year, UNESCO threatened to add Venice to its list of cultural assets under threat, citing increased tourism and the lagoon’s increasing water levels, both of which were linked to climate change.

Only until the new ticketing system was approved by the municipal authorities did Venice avoid the disgrace.

The concept has been discussed for a while but was constantly shelved due to worries that it would severely impair tourism and restrict freedom of movement.

American visitor Ashish Thakkar, who was here on Wednesday with his wife, wondered what impact the day pass would have.

“If I’m coming all the way from out of the country, five euros just to get access to the city — I wouldn’t mind paying it,” he said to AFP.

“I don’t think it’s going to make a big difference.”

Venturini thinks that by taking this action, local Italians would be discouraged from coming on crowded days like Thursday, which is Italy’s World War II Liberation Day.

The enormous cruise ships, from which hundreds of day-trippers depart every day, were already prohibited by Venice in 2021 and were diverted to a farther-off industrial port.

The tickets were described as “an experiment” by Venice Mayor Luigi Brugnaro, and authorities are unsure of how well the scheme would work out.

Absence of lines

Reporters were informed by Brugnaro earlier this month that the new system will be watched over “without queues” and with “very soft controls”.

Tickets may be purchased on arrival, although visitors are advised to purchase them online in advance.

At the primary entrance to the city, the Santa Lucia rail station, a new ticket office has been established on the plaza.

In important locations, controllers will conduct spot inspections. Fines may vary from 50 to 300 euros ($53 to $320).

The new permits are not required for those staying in Venice who already pay an overnight charge for that privilege, those arriving between 4:00 pm and 8:30 am, children under 14, and people with disabilities.