Feed the pigeons on St. Mark’s Square, walk across the Rialto Bridge and take a gondola ride through the lagoon city: more than 30 million tourists visit the lagoon city of Venice every year.
Venice now wants to charge a fee of between three and ten euros per day guest from 2023. Only 40,000 day tourists per day should be allowed. Because the incoming day tourism has major ecological consequences. But not all residents agree with this and are demonstrating against it under the motto “We are not a museum”.
Not a museum, but a city
German journalist Petra Reski, who has lived in Venice since 1991, sums up her negative attitude. It is neither Disneyland nor a museum, but a city for which there should be no entrance fee.
The entrance fee also has weak points – she sees the biggest in the restrictive effect of the number of visitors. “If you want to visit Venice, the entrance fee won’t stop you,” says Reski.
Where is the money going?
At the same time, there is a certain fear that the ticket revenue will flow to the mainland. Because the money is not paid into a fund. Rather, the mayor and his municipal councils decide on the funds. The inhabitants of Venice are also fighting back against this.
Legend:
A gondola ride through Venice is on the wish list of many tourists.
Reuters/Manuel Silvestri
“We have a fundamental problem that we live in this forced marriage with the mainland,” the journalist notes. The villages on the mainland also belong to Venice. “That’s why the money could be spent on a pavement in Mestre, for example,” fears Reski. The canals and foundations in Venice urgently needed renovation.
Postponement of ticket introduction
Due to data protection and constitutional protection reasons, the original start date of January 16, 2023 for the introduction of admission tickets to Venice has been postponed. Petra Reski is skeptical that the ticket will ever be introduced and assumes that there could be constitutional lawsuits.
On the one hand, every Veneziani would have to specify every visiting person in order to get the required QR code. On the other hand, citizens of the Veneto region protested because they would have to pay to visit their regional capital in the future.