Arriving at the Santa Lucia train station in Venice on Thursday morning, passengers were told by a ceiling announcement that they might have to pay a five-euro fare to access the city’s historic center. Failure to pay could result in a fine of “50 to 300 euros,” according to the announcement.
Outside the police station, police officers in riot gear stood, while a flock of attendants in colorful security vests stopped arriving travelers to make sure they had a QR code indicating they had registered to visit on a website. the city. Those who had not done so were directed to a booth where they could do so. After checking in, overnight visitors were sent away free of charge, but people who planned to stay only for the day were charged (although there were other exemptions).
It was a welcome addition to Venice, the first city in the world to charge day visitors a nominal entrance fee, a move city officials hope will help counter overtourism.
“I only found out because my partner texted me this morning to tell me what was happening,” said Lorraine Colcher, a hospital administrator in Wirral, England, in line at the booth. “I thought you were joking.”
And he didn’t believe people should have to pay for the privilege of seeing a “beautiful city that everyone wants to visit,” he said.
Not far from the station, hundreds of protesters were making a lot of noise. For them, charging an entrance fee was a worrying step toward bringing Venice closer to what many fear it will become if the tide doesn’t turn: a theme park. Blowing whistles, they handed out fake tickets that said: “Welcome to Veniceland.” Some held signs saying, “Venice is not for sale” and “Stick to the ticket,” and chanted, “We want our city back.”
“A fine does not solve overtourism,” said Renata Marzari, a retired teacher from Venice who was among the protesters.
Like other locals, he acknowledged that the influx of tourists, which last year reached nearly 20 million, could be a challenge. Often, he said, these were physical collisions, including “pointing accidents, when you find yourself with a suddenly raised hand, or photo accidents, when you get hit while looking at their phones.” But the ticket, which applies only to day visitors arriving between 8.30am and 4pm, was “ridiculous”, he said. And he added: “They could make more money by charging for every cigarette butt thrown on the ground.”
Venice is just one of dozens of cities, including Amsterdam, Athens and Barcelona, struggling with a glut of tourists. On Thursday morning, in front of the train station, the city’s mayor, Luigi Brugnaro, said that he had been contacted by other places interested in the initiative, but did not say which ones, “for reasons of confidentiality.”
Floating on water crisscrossed by canals, Venice, which tradition says was founded in 421, although that date is debated, is exceptionally fragile. Last year, experts from UNESCO, the United Nations cultural agency, recommended it be included on the list of endangered World Heritage sites, with mass tourism a major concern. Venice remained off the “in danger” list after the access fee was approved, but UNESCO officials said in a statement that “further progress still needs to be made.”
Critics of the fee say it will do little to combat the city’s real problems, which have pushed many to leave. The resident population in the city center has dropped to fewer than 49,000 people, from nearly 175,000 in 1951, according to municipal statistics. They mention the lack of affordable housing, due to short-term rentals; a decline in services such as schools and transportation; and the invasion of the tourism industry in practically all areas of life.
Federica Toninelli, a member of a local association that advocates for affordable housing in Venice, saw the fine as “propaganda” and said the city must put “the needs of residents at the center of policies.” City officials must “take strong steps that return the city to a more manageable level of tourism,” she said.
Otherwise, “this is how a city dies,” said Nicola Camatti, an economics professor and tourism expert at Ca’ Foscari University in Venice.
Franca Caltarossa, who once ran a municipal after-school program that she says lost much of its funding under the current mayor, said “tourism has distorted the city.”
“Venice is a living city, not a theme park,” he said.
A 2020 study by tourism experts at Ca’ Foscari, Venice’s main university, suggested that the optimal number of visitors to Venice per day was around 52,000 people, about a quarter of them daily day trippers. But Venice does not put a limit on the number of visitors.
“We are against limiting the number of visitors; “This is an open city,” said Michele Zuin, municipal councilor in charge of the budget. Instead, the city hoped daytime visitors — about 10 million last year — would plan to come on off-peak days, when the city “is quieter,” Zuin said.
“We are convinced that it is a solution to manage day visitors,” he said.
On Thursday, a national holiday in Italy, 113,000 people had registered to enter Venice. Of those, 15,700 paid the access fee, 40,000 were exempt overnight guests, while the remaining visitors (also exempt) included students, workers and family or friends of residents.
By 2024, the rate will be applied on 29 peak days as “an experiment,” Zuin said. The data collected during this phase will help city officials better manage resources and better control the phenomenon, he says. Mr Zuin said more days would be added to the fare calendar next year and fares could go up to 10 euros.
“Doubling the price is turning the city into a commodity, nothing more than a theme park, a museum,” said Giovanni Andrea Martini, a local opposition lawmaker. He questioned the usefulness of the fee given that the council’s future projects included plans to expand the airport and dig new canals in the lagoon so that boats, and even cruise ships, which were banned in 2019, could dock closer. “This means the city will be even more suffocated,” he said Thursday, interrupting the interview because a brief fight had broken out between protesters and police.
At the train station, tourists queued patiently at the ticket booth to order their passes.
Charlotte Dean, a wine merchant, and Caroline Meatyard, a retired schoolteacher, both from England, happily paid the fee. “It’s “fair enough,” Dean said. “Venice is a lovely place, it should be treasured.”
