Tourists visiting Venice for one day will need to purchase an entry ticket from 16 January next year, under new rules aimed at regulating the flow of tourists there, the city’s deputy head of tourism, Simone Venturini, said on Friday.
Residents of the Italian city have long criticised mass tourism which, they say, often makes it difficult to drive in its narrow streets and creates huge crowds around the most popular sites, Belga News Agency reports.
The city often hosted upward of 100,000 tourists per day before the Covid-19 pandemic. Its authorities are now targeting one-day visitors and cruise-ship tourists, most of whom do not contribute to the local economy.
Under the new regulations, residents of the Venice region and anyone reserving lodging in the city will be exempted from the obligation to buy a ticket.
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Ticket prices, which could vary according to peaks in visitor numbers, will amount to €10 per person, with possible reductions when bought in advance. Visitors will be required, in any event, to reserve their tickets online before arriving in Venice. Anyone entering the historic city without doing so will be liable to fines ranging from €50 to €300.
The installation of turnstiles is not to be ruled out, Belga reported.
The prices of tickets for museums and vaporetti will increase from September, unless they are reserved online, with a view to getting visitors accustomed to planning their trips prior to the introduction of entry tickets in January next.
