The ancient water city turned into a "theme park"? ,Venice launches "entering fee" Venice

"Welcome to Venice, please pay 5 euros." This is the slogan written at the entrance of the Italian water city of Venice.

Starting from April 25, Venice will charge a 5-euro “entry fee” for day-trippers into the city. Failure to pay as required may result in a fine of 50 to 300 euros.

Venice is the first city in the world to charge visitors an entrance fee, a move local officials say is aimed at controlling crowds during peak periods.

Thursday is an official holiday in Italy and the first day Venice starts charging tourists.

The fee is collected on the 29 peak tourist days including weekends from April 25 to mid-July, and the tickets are valid from 8:30 am to 4 pm on that day.

The fee applies to "day trippers aged 14 and over" and costs €5. This does not include tourists under the age of 14 and tourists who have booked an overnight hotel in Venice, but they need to complete an online reservation. Additionally, there is no need to pay or make an appointment for Venice residents, students, workers and homeowners.

According to statistics, more than 100,000 people registered to enter Venice on the first day when the "entry fee" was implemented. Among them, about 15,000 people paid the "entry fee" and 40,000 people did not need to pay the fee because they booked overnight hotels.

In addition to the offline payment gates, the Venice City Council has launched an online platform where tourists can complete prepayment and cancellation operations. If you meet the conditions without paying, you can apply for a "fee exemption" and get a QR code.

Some media have observed that Venice does not have turnstiles for ticket inspection at several major entrances into the city, but inspectors will conduct random checks on passers-by.

In fact, Venice has been planning this charging plan since 2021 in order to avoid being included in the World Heritage List in Danger by UNESCO.

That same year, Venice banned large cruise ships from entering the Venetian Lagoon. The city also announced late last year that it plans to limit the number of tourist groups entering Venice to 25 people starting from June this year.

Behind all this is not only the fact that Venice has been hit by heavy rains and floods all year round, but also another concern is that the Venetian government is afraid that the city will be flooded by tourists before it is flooded.

A 2020 study by the University of Venice Ca Foscari showed that the number of tourists visiting Venice every day is about 52,000, about a quarter of whom are day trippers.

According to UNESCO estimates, Venice now has nearly 30 million tourists of all types every year, while there are less than 50,000 local residents.

When describing their travel experience during peak periods, some tourists complained that they were always involved in some "physical conflicts", such as being hit by a suddenly raised hand, colliding head-on with someone looking at their mobile phone, or frequently breaking into other people's homes. lens.

Although charging a symbolic "entry fee" may not immediately reduce the number of tourists, because few people will give up going to Venice for 5 euros, this move may make people realize that Venice is carrying the problem of too many tourists, so as to Choose to travel during the off-season.

Some government officials said that next year, the number of days that tourists will be charged will be more than 29 days, and the fee may be increased to 10 euros.

The "entry fee" caught some tourists off guard.

Especially for overnight guests, it is not easy to apply for "fee exemption" on the platform. In addition to entering basic personal information and accommodation address, they also need to verify within 60 seconds whether their mobile phone can make international calls.

Many tourists complained about this complicated process and said they just wanted to take a vacation and didn't want to worry about these things.

On Thursday, hundreds of protesters gathered not far from the Venice train station. They held placards reading "Venice Not For Sale" and "Take Back Our City" to express their dissatisfaction with the charging behavior.

Most protesters worry that the government's actions have turned Venice from an ancient water city into a cheap "theme park" with a ticket price of 5 euros.

"People should not have to pay to visit this beautiful city, tourism is distorting Venice."

According to the Venice City Council, the collection of city entry fees brought in at least 27,500 euros to the city government on the first day.

Local opponents are skeptical about the use of the money, as the government plans to not only expand the airport but also dig new canals in the lagoon.

Other critics point to more practical problems in the city. According to statistics, from 1951 to the present, the permanent population in downtown Venice has dropped from nearly 200,000 to less than 50,000. This reflects problems such as a shortage of social welfare housing and a reduction in schools and transportation.

But at the same time, there are also many tourists who happily pay this fee. They think it is an effective way to reduce the number of tourists and invest in urban maintenance. Some even say that even charging 50 euros is acceptable.

Some commentators said that as B&B landlords flock to Venice in large numbers, this regulation can effectively curb illegal rentals. Because tourists need to show their accommodation address, this will force people who rent illegally to register legally.

After the downturn during the epidemic period, the "tourist overload" brought about by the recovery of the world's tourism industry is plaguing many cities, and Venice is just one of them.

In March, Yoshimura Hirofumi, the governor of Osaka Prefecture, Japan, said that in order to prevent over-tourism, he would consider introducing a "levy fee" system for foreign tourists to levy a certain fee on foreign tourists visiting the local area, and plans to open the Osaka Tourism Center in April next year. ·This system was introduced at the Kansai World Expo.

The Indonesian island of Bali began charging foreign tourists to the island an "island fee" of about US$10 per person in February.

In Europe, Barcelona closed its northern port terminal in October last year; Dubrovnik, a famous tourist city in Croatia, limited the number of daily cruise passengers.

Amsterdam in the Netherlands has chosen a more peculiar method of suppression—controlling the “source” of tourism promotion. Relevant staff said that they do not actively promote popular areas, but instead promote lesser-known areas to achieve the effect of attracting traffic. But even so, some organizations predict that by 2025, Amsterdam will receive up to 23 million overnight tourists every year.