The City Hall of Venice (northeast Italy) gave green light to pay “an access contribution”that initially it will be 5 eurosfor visitors to the city, in order to discourage mass daily tourism from next spring.

Venice, which receives about 30 million tourists a yearit will become like this the first city in the world to establish this measurewhich after the review of the corresponding commissions will be definitively approved on September 12 and will be tested in 2024 for about 30 days, still to be defined, announced its City Council.

“From today begins a path that we undertake with humility, knowing that there will be problems to solve and obstacles to overcome. No one has shown it to us before, we are tracing it ourselves in the belief that tourism management is a priority for the future of our city“said the Councilor for Tourism, Simone Venturini.

As indicated on the municipal website, “the resolution establishes the guidelines for the introduction of a new management system for tourist flows, with the definition of general principles, exclusions, exemptions, controls and sanctions, through a multi-channel platform and multilingual which will be available shortly”.

The objective is discourage daily tourism at certain timesin line with the delicacy and uniqueness of the city”, highlights the City Council, which specifies that the access fee “must be paid by any natural person, over 14 years of age, who enters the city”, except for residents, workers and the students.

Who should not pay it?

They are also exempt tourists who spend the night in the citythe residents of the region of the venetothe people in need of carethe participants in sports competitionsthe law enforcement in service and the residents’ relatives.

“In general, contribution will be requested from daily visitors“, highlighted the City Council. After the approval of the next day 12, the municipal Board “will define, in addition to the affected days of the contribution (…), the time slots of the contribution and the value of the same, which will initially be of 5 euros”.

It is not “a tool to make money, in fact only will cover system costsbut it will guarantee residents a better quality of life and tourists who stay a visit capable of giving more vivid emotions,” Venturini said.

“The message we want to convey is that Venice is accessible, open, but visitors, both national and international, must understand that it is needs programming to better manage the balance between residence and tourism“, said the budget adviser, Michele Zuin.

Objective: protect Venice

Venice, founded in the 5th century and converted into a Mediterranean naval power in the 10th century, is currently one of the most visited cities in the world, with daily peaks of up to 100,000 tourists who spend the night there, while its population, of about 50,000 inhabitants, is reduced annually.

On July 31, Unesco announced that it was going to propose the inclusion of Venice on the list of endangered heritage, since the measures adopted by the Italian State to protect the city and its lagoon were “insufficient” and “must be enlarged”.

The UNESCO Heritage Center considered mass tourism, reform projects and climate change some of the main threats to the Italian city, since damage building structures and urban areas degrading their cultural and social identity.