Italy’s Venice is again charging tourists who visit for the day. The city started collecting a fee last Friday. This is the second year Venice has done this. The fee is meant to help control the number of visitors and protect the city’s cultural heritage as a UNESCO World Heritage Site.
How the fee works
Tourists who don’t stay overnight in Venice must pay between €5 and €10 to enter the historic center. If they book in advance – at least three days before – and download a QR code, they pay just €5. Without advance registration, the fee is €10. Venice will collect this fee for 54 days this year, mostly on weekends and holidays between April 18 and July 27. Last year, the fee was collected for 29 days.
The QR code is checked from 8:30 am to 4:00 pm at entry points like Santa Lucia train station and St. Mark’s Square. Last year, 450,000 day-trippers paid the fee, raising €2.4 million. However, the total cost of running the system was €2.7 million, resulting in a loss. This year, city officials expect to make a profit of €1-1.5 million, which will help fund local services like waste management.
Critics say the fee isn’t working
Some city council members and critics argue that the fee hasn’t reduced the number of tourists. In the first 11 days of the fee last year, an average of 75,000 people visited each day. This was 10,000 more than during a major festival the previous year. Venice welcomes around 25-30 million visitors annually, including both overnight stays and day trips.
Venice was removed from UNESCO’s “in danger” list after implementing this measure. For the April 18 date this year, 8,000 people had pre-registered to visit, out of a total of 77,000 registrations.
Source: AP
