VENICE, Italy: Venice on Thursday launched a new scheme to charge daytrippers for entering the historic Italian city, a world first intended to ease the pressure of mass tourism but many residents are opposed.
Visitors entering the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (Unesco) World Heritage site for the day have to buy a 5-euro ($5.3) ticket, with inspectors carrying out spot checks at key entry points.
Considered one of the most beautiful cities on the planet, Venice is one of the world's top tourist destinations but is drowning under the weight of the crowds.
About 10,000 tickets had been sold by the time the scheme began at 8:30 a.m. on Thursday, said Simone Venturini, the local councilor responsible for tourism.
Under a trial system, the "Venice Access Fee" is being introduced on 29 busy days throughout 2024, mostly weekends from May to July. Thursday is a public holiday in Italy.
There is no limit to the number of tickets available. Instead, the goal is to try to persuade daytrippers to visit during quieter times.
"I think it's good, because it will perhaps slow down the numbers of tourists in Venice," said Sylvain Pelerin, a French tourist who has been visiting for more than 50 years.
Overnight visitors, who already pay a tourist tax, will be exempt, as will people younger than 14, among others.
But not everyone is happy, with some residents set to protest the measure they say curbs fundamental rights to freedom of movement.
"This is not a museum. It's not a protected ecological area. You shouldn't have to pay — it's a city," Marina Dodino, from the local residents' association ARCI, told Agence France-Presse (AFP).
'Soft controls'
Venice Mayor Luigi Brugnaro has said the new scheme is "an experiment," monitored with "very soft controls" and "without queues."
Visitors are being encouraged to buy their tickets online beforehand — as many had on Thursday — but will be able to buy one on arrival.
A new ticket office has been set up on the square in front of the Santa Lucia train station, the main point of entry into the city.
Inspectors will be able to fine those without tickets, ranging from 50 to 300 euros ($53 to $320).
But none are expected on Thursday, an official told AFP, with the goal to persuade rather than punish.Spread over more than 100 small islands and islets in northeastern Italy, Venice was listed by Unesco as a World Heritage Site in 1987.
But the numbers of people seeking to experience what the UN cultural body calls an "extraordinary architectural masterpiece" are widely considered to be unsustainable.
At peak times, 100,000 visitors stay overnight in Venice's historic center, double the resident population of just 50,000.
Tens of thousands more pour into the city's narrow streets for the day, often from cruise ships, to see sights including St. Mark's Square and the Rialto Bridge.
Unesco threatened last year to put Venice on its list of heritage in danger, citing mass tourism, as well as rising water levels in its lagoon attributed to climate change.
Venice escaped the ignominy only after local authorities agreed to the new ticketing system.
The idea had long been debated but was repeatedly postponed over concerns that it would seriously dent tourist revenue and compromise freedom of movement.
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