What if the metaphor of the “open-air museum” became reality? In any case, Venice seems to be taking the path. Since Thursday, April 25, the City of the Doges has imposed a tax of five euros on its daily visitors. A world first, obtained after six years of lively debates. The objective of the system: to put a blow to overtourism, which some 260,000 Venetians complain about.
Furthermore, the experience is very limited in scope: in 2024, only 29 busy days are affected by this new tax, which will be applied almost every weekend from May to July. And the tax only targets daily tourists entering the historic center between 8:30 a.m. and 4 p.m. In total, seventy agents will be present to check the tickets. Local police patrols will also be ready to intervene in the event of a problem, and will be able to fine fraudsters who face a fine ranging from 50 to 300 euros.
No sales cap
Not sure, however, that the amount of five euros is sufficiently dissuasive to discourage tourists from visiting the city. By the end of the morning, nearly thirteen thousand tickets had been sold, the town hall told our AFP colleagues. And to specify that this figure is “constantly evolving”. Especially since no sales ceiling has yet been set.
For Tourism Deputy Simone Venturini, it is “above all a matter of discouraging local tourism for residents of the Veneto region who can visit Venice whenever they want”. The city’s first magistrate, Luigi Brugnaro, himself acknowledged to our colleagues in the Republic that the device was “perfectable”. In particular, a threshold will have to be defined in the coming weeks so as to vary the price according to attendance.
In Italy, the measure was not necessarily well received. Some fear that the city will definitively become “a museum”. This Thursday morning, demonstrators gathered in Piazzale Roma to shouts of “No to tickets! Yes to housing and services for all”, or even “Venice open city”.
Others mock the ineffectiveness of the measure. “8,000 daily tourists will enter the city by presenting the 5 euro voucher […] while more than 40,000 will be exempt, including the more than 30,000 visitors who spend the night and who already pay the tourist tax”, criticizes the Republic.
“Infinite exemptions”, mocks the Italian press
It must be said that the cases of exemption provided for are numerous. Minors under the age of 14, students, and workers, for example, will not have to pay the tax. As do tourists sleeping at least one night there. And the list is not exhaustive. In addition, access to the islands of the lagoon, such as Lido, Murano and Burano remains free.
“The exemptions are so numerous that it is difficult to enter one of the categories without a ticket,” mocks the transalpine daily La Stampadepicting a Venice “which is still struggling to free itself from the role of ‘postcard city’ that has been sewn into it”.