Mass tourism
The five euro entrance fee that day tourists in Venice have to pay has generated almost a million euros during a pilot project. This is evident from figures published by the Italian city on Monday.
According to the municipal council, the first phase exceeded expectations. From April 25 to May 5, more than 195,000 entrance tickets were sold, worth more than 975,000 euros. It was also a special period for Venice for another reason: Pope Francis, who had not been outside Rome for months due to his poor health, visited the Biennale in Venice on April 28. This passage may have attracted additional candidates to the city in the water.
The city will continue the project during weekends until mid-July. Entrance fees must be paid on almost all Saturdays and Sundays from 8:30 am to 4 pm. You can buy the entrance ticket, in the form of a QR code, online. If you don’t do this, you risk a fine of 300 euros. The money the city earns must be used to maintain the canals and buildings.
Overnight tourists, residents of Venice, children under 14 and students do not have to pay an entrance fee. As a rule, they also need a QR code, but they receive it for free. The city welcomes fifteen million visitors annually and is one of the most visited destinations in the world.
Mass tourism stimulates the local economy, but due to the popularity of the Italian city, it is often overcrowded. It is still unclear whether this pilot project, which is still in a testing phase, will be introduced permanently. That decision will be made during the year. Currently, the costs of the project are still higher than the income.
