Venice is charging an entry fee to tourists. But why are residents angry?

Planning your summer holiday to Venice? It will come at a cost. The picturesque destination has become the first city in the world to charge day-trippers. To get admission to Italy’s floating city, tourists now have to shell out €5 (Rs 447.04). Wonder why.

Authorities believe it will help manage overcrowding and make Venice “livable” again.

But residents are not happy and have taken to the streets. We tell you all that is going on in the city.

What is the tourism fee all about?

A pilot initiative, which came into effect on Thursday, will ask day-trippers to pay a charge of €5 (Rs 447.04) and buy their tickets to visit Venice’s historic centre. The payment is to be made online after which visitors will be given a QR code for access. Those without one can buy it on arrival, with the help of local stewards.

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Offenders face fines of €50 to €300 (Rs 4,475 to Rs 26,843) by inspectors conducting random checks during the peak holiday season – mostly on weekends, until 14 July. The requirement for tourism fee applies only to people arriving between 8:30 am and 4 pm; outside of those hours, access is free and unchecked.

Overtourism has been a growing concern and has prompted authorities to take this decision. “We need to find a new balance between the tourists and residents," Simone Venturini, the city’s top tourism official, told the Associated Press (AP). “We need to safeguard the spaces of the residents, of course, and we need to discourage the arrival of day-trippers on some particular days.”

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The tourism fee excludes the residents, commuters, students, and children under 14, as well as tourists who stay overnight.

The initiative is one of a series of measures in place across Italy to manage tourist flows in one of UNESCO’s most popular heritage sites which is expected to be entirely underwater by the end of this century, The Washington Post reported.

Around 20 million individuals thronged to Italy’s most beautiful city last year, as per a city official, with about half of them lodging overnight in hotels or vacation rentals, a number far surpassing the current resident population estimated at approximately 49,000.

Venturini mentioned that there has been significant interest in Venice’s pilot initiative from other destinations grappling with over-tourism. Other Italian cities renowned for art and those abroad like Barcelona, Spain, and Amsterdam are said to be watching closely.

Is the move about earning revenue?

No, say officials. But the fee will add to the city’s coffers.

Venice mayor Luigi Brugnaro declared the launch day, coinciding with an Italian holiday, a success, registering 15,700 paying visitors, 50 per cent more than anticipated, bringing 27,500 euros (Rs. 24.6 lakh) to the city’s coffers on its first day, AP reported.

However, Brugnaro affirmed that the move is not a money-making initiative. He said he would cut local taxes for residents if the scheme is successful.

But residents are far from pleased.

Why are locals in Venice protesting?

Many believe that the fee is not enough to fight overtourism. Residents against the day-tripper tax argue that Venice’s challenges can be addressed by increasing the local population and improving essential services, while also restricting short-term rentals to free up more housing and encourage families to return from the mainland.

“For a start, €5 will do nothing to deter people. But day-trippers aren’t the issue; things like the shortage of affordable housing are…What we need are policies to help residents, for example, making rules to limit things like Airbnb,” said Federica Toninello, who leads ASC, an association for housing told The Guardian.

“They (authorities) think this measure will solve the problem, but they haven’t really understood the consequences of mass tourism on a city like Venice,” Toninello added.

And some Venetians strongly agree.

Several hundred individuals peacefully marched through one of Venice’s main squares, carrying signs reading “No to ticket for Vene-Land” and chanting “Here we live and here we stay,” to voice their disagreement with the new measure.

“We are against this measure because it will do nothing to stop overtourism,” local Cristina Romieri was quoted as saying in The Independent. “Moreover, it is such a complex regulation with so many exceptions that it will also be difficult to enforce it.”

According to Venturini, the streets of Venice are choked when the number of day-trippers reaches 30,000 to 40,000. During peak days, local police implement one-way pedestrian traffic to manage the crowds and keep them moving.

But locals say that Venice is not only a tourist destination, it is home to many. “This is not a natural oasis. This is not a museum. It is not Pompeii. It is a city, where we need to fight so the houses are inhabited by families…That is what would counter this wild tourism,’’ Marina Rodino, who has lived in Venice for 30 years told AP.

Protesters also briefly clashed with police on Thursday, who initially prevented them from entering the city.

Giovanni Andrea Martini, a member of an opposition group in the Town Hall who participated in the residents’ protests, described it to Reuters as, “a sad day because Venice is becoming a museum, a theme park”.

What are tourists saying?

Tourists arriving in the city said that imposing another charge on visitors was unfair and a “shame”.

“I consider Venice to be the most beautiful city in the world and so to deprive a person on a low budget of the opportunity to come here for an hour or two to enjoy this city is surely a shame for these tourists,” Gabriella Pappada, an Italian tourist from Lecce was quoted in a Reuters report.

With inputs from agencies