Day trippers will have to pay €5 to visit Italian city under scheme designed to protect it from excess tourism

Day-trippers will have to pay €5 to visit Italian city under scheme designed to protect it from excess tourism

Authorities in Venice have been accused of transforming the famous lagoon city into a “theme park” as a long-mooted entrance fee for day trippers comes into force.

Venice is the first major city in the world to enact such a scheme. The €5 (£4.30) charge, which comes into force today, is aimed at protecting the Unesco world heritage site from the effects of excessive tourism by deterring day trippers and, according to the mayor, Luigi Brugnaro, making the city “livable” again.

But several residents’ committees and associations have planned protests for Thursday, arguing that the fee will do nothing to resolve the issue.

“I can tell you that almost the entire city is against it,” claimed Matteo Secchi, who leads Venessia.com, a residents’ activist group. “You can’t impose an entrance fee to a city; all they’re doing is transforming it into a theme park. This is a bad image for Venice … I mean, are we joking?”

  • r00ty@kbin.life
    1·
    6 months ago

    But if you’re staying on one of the main islands, instead of paying the 5 euro entry ticket you pay the (up to) 5 euro hotel tax

    City tax is a thing in pretty much every Italian tourist city. We’ve done the stay in Mestre thing, and it is indeed cheaper (the train ticket is really cheap). But, you have to be clear of the main islands before the last train/bus and it’s much better to not have to worry about such things.

    There’s some decent priced places to stay on the island. I mean not compared to a hostel for sure, but still reasonable overall compared to a hotel.