This new sesame, which comes in the form of a QR code acquired online at the single price of €5, must be presented at the main entry points to the Serenissima. Despite its low price and the absence of a cap on the number of visitors, Venice hopes to dissuade some tourists from crowding its narrow streets and bridges spanning the canals on busiest days.
“Our goal is to make Venice more livable”
Venice will thus become the first tourist city in the world to impose an entrance fee like a theme park, while movements hostile to overtourism are multiplying, particularly in Spain, pushing the authorities to act to reconcile the good -be residents with a crucial economic sector.
“Experiment” over 29 days
“This is an experiment, and it is the first time that it has been done in the world,” explained the mayor of Venice Luigi Brugnaro during a press conference in early April in Rome to present this new mechanism to the media around the world. An experience which will be closely followed by other major tourist cities around the world facing the same problems. “Our goal is to make Venice more livable,” he stressed, while his town, one of the most visited cities in the world, has already banned giant cruise ships from its historic center.
At peak attendance, 100,000 tourists sleep there, in addition to tens of thousands of daily visitors. Compare to the approximately 50,000 inhabitants of the city center, which continues to depopulate. At this stage, however, the experience remains very limited in scope: for 2024, only 29 days of high tourist traffic are affected by this new tax. “The calendar starts on April 25 (public holiday in Italy, Editor’s note), then follows almost every weekend from May to July,” said Luigi Brugnaro, who promised “very soft” controls, “at random” and “no queues”.
No numerus clausus
This tax, the implementation of which has been postponed several times, only targets daily tourists entering the old town between 8:30 a.m. and 4 p.m. local time. They will have to download their QR code on the dedicated site (https://cda.ve.it/fr/), available in English, Spanish, French and German, in addition to Italian.
“We are opposed to the numerus clausus, otherwise we are no longer a city but a museum”
This precious QR code must, if necessary, be presented to controllers stationed at the main entrances to the city, in particular the Santa Lucia station. Tourists who have not completed this formality will be invited to acquire it at the last minute upon their arrival with the help of local operators. Which will not pose a problem since no ceiling has been set on the number of QR codes sold for each day: “We are opposed to the numerus clausus, otherwise we are no longer a city but a museum”, was keen to emphasize the aedile of Venice.
Many exemptions
A fine of €50 to €300 is planned for tourists who try to slip through the cracks, even if local authorities have said they want to favor persuasion over repression. Tourists sleeping at least one night on site are not affected and will receive a free QR code. In addition, numerous exemptions are provided, particularly for those under 14 and students.
Venice, famous throughout the world for its monuments, its works of art, its bridges and its canals, has been a UNESCO world heritage site since 1987. In September, however, the city had narrowly escaped being listed as a UNESCO world heritage site in danger, whose experts had estimated that this jewel was threatened by too much tourism and global warming, due to “insufficient” measures. » taken by Italy to combat the deterioration of the site.
