GABRIEL BOUYS / AFP
St. Mark's Square in Venice. To combat mass tourism, the city will introduce a tax of 5 euros from January 16, 2024.
ITALY – From now on we have to pay. The municipality of Venice began selling tickets for five euros on Tuesday, January 16, a tax levied in spring and summer on tourists who come for just one day in the Doge City, victim of mass tourism.
For a total of 29 days in the period from April 25 to July 14, the peak tourist season, day tourists must purchase this ticket to enter the Old Town between 8:30 a.m. and 4:00 p.m. local time. The ticket purchasing website went live on Tuesday at https://cda.ve.it/en/ in English and Italian.
However, there are numerous exceptions, especially for people under 14, students or police officers. This program, which was decided last year, does not impose any limit on the number of visitors.
Clear the city
This project, announced in September, has the main aim of discouraging day visitors who contribute to congestion in the city, known around the world for its works of art, its bridges and its canals, and a UNESCO World Heritage Site since 1987.
“Venice is the first city in the world to introduce this system, which could serve as an example for other fragile cities (…) that need to be saved,” explained its mayor Luigi Brugnaro in November, when the municipality made this public Dates of application of this tax.
“It is not a revolution, but the first step of a system that regulates the access of day visitors,” explained Luigi Brugnaro, specifying that the aim is “the quality of life in the city”.
Venice “in danger”
In mid-September, the city of Venice narrowly avoided being added to the UNESCO World Heritage List in Danger.
However, at the end of July, UNESCO experts recommended that Venice, a jewel threatened by too much tourism and global warming, be classified as “at risk” because of “inadequate” measures taken in Italy to combat the decline of the place.
According to official figures, around 3.2 million tourists stayed overnight in Venice's historic center in 2022, a figure that does not include the thousands of visitors who only come there during the day.
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