I’m happy to pay to visit Venice, says first tourist to use new ticket system amid demonstrations
Emerging from Venice’s railway station on a dank, rainy morning, Sylvain Pellarin was the first person in the world to arrive in the city as it imposed an entrance fee on tourists, a controversial initiative that is being closely watched by other tourist hotspots.
The scheme, which has divided opinion in the World Heritage city, is intended to drastically cut the number of tourist arrivals and relieve some of the strain that ordinary Venetians have endured for years.
For his part, Mr Pellarin said he was happy to hand over €5 (£4.30) for the entry fee at a shiny new ticket office that has been set up in front of the station, a few yards from the Grand Canal.
“I’ve been coming to Venice since I was a child and I have seen mass tourism intensify,” said the 55-year-old quality controller from Orleans, in France.
“I’m fine with paying it if the money is used well to protect the city. I think it’s right that you have to pay to see a place like Venice.”
Just to his right, Mark Michanowicz chose to acquire his entrance pass electronically from one of three digital screens set up in the ticket station.
“I think it’s the right thing to do. Venetians have suffered long enough from over-tourism. As a tourist you come, you eat, you go. Who’s going to clear up all the mess? I’d be willing to pay €10. If you’re going to visit a beautiful city, why not support it?’ said Mr Michanowicz, 64, a retired US army officer who knows Venice well, having been stationed at a base in northern Italy.
As the first trains of the day arrived, officials in white and yellow bibs conducted random checks on tourists to make sure they had a QR code on their phones that proved they had paid the entrance fee.
Most seemed, if not happy, then at least resigned, to stumping up €5 each for the privilege of entering La Serenissima, as Venice was known during its 1,000-year history as an independent republic.
“We were meant to have come to Venice yesterday and wouldn’t have had to pay, so that’s a bit of a bummer,” said Luca Perotti, 22, from London.
“We could have spent the money on a gelato or something. But I guess in the grand scheme of things, €5 is not so bad. Although it doesn’t seem to have reduced the number of tourists. The place is rammed,” said Mr Perotti, a kitchen and bathroom designer who was on a day trip from Verona with his girlfriend Kodie Jamieson, 26, a pharmacy dispenser.
The entrance payment – the first of its kind in the world – applies only to day-trippers.
Tourists who spend at least one night in the city are exempt, as are locals, students, commuters and children under the age of 14, although they all need to register online before they arrive.
“If our stewards find that a tourist has not made the payment, then they will ask them to do it there and then on their mobile phone,” said Simone Venturini, the city councillor in charge of tourism. “Or they can go in person to the ticket office outside the station.”
Tourists who are caught without the QR code face fines of up to €300.
The aim is to tackle the mass tourism that is slowly crushing the life out of Venice, with the number of residents now below 50,000.
“We want to have fewer day-trippers. On some days, Venice is overwhelmed by visitors. We are not closing the city. Everyone can enter. It’s just that some people now have to pay,” said Mr Venturini.
The entrance fee will be levied on 29 of the busiest days between now and mid-July. “After that we will review it. It could be extended,” he said.
But such a modest charge is unlikely to deter the millions of foreign tourists who long to see Venice, given the high prices they already face once they arrive. An espresso at an outdoor café in St Mark’s Square costs €12 while a dry Martini will set back the well-heeled visitor €26.
“We’ve been wanting to see Venice for a long time. It’s not like we are going to turn around and leave, now that we find out we have to pay,” said Kelly Snow, 45, from New Hampshire, who was visiting with her twin sister, Cara Carr, from Colorado. “This is a once-in-a-lifetime trip so I’m not bothered about having to pay five bucks.”
A few hundred protesters held a demonstration against the new tourist fee, saying that it will fail to reduce tourist numbers and does not address the structural problems that many Venetians face.
There were brief clashes between some protesters and riot police armed with batons and shields, although no reported injuries.
A few hundred people then marched along the city’s canals, holding banners which read Airbnb Kills Cities and The Entrance Charge Won’t Save Venice.
“We don’t want to be Disneyland. We’re not an open-air museum. We’re totally against this entrance ticket,” said Ruggero Tallon, from a protest group that also opposes the presence of huge cruise ships in the lagoon.
Federica Toninello, from another protest group, told The Telegraph: “This is a sad day for Venice. It’s a distraction from the real problem facing Venetians, which is the lack of affordable housing. There are 2,000 council homes which are lying empty because the council hasn’t done the necessary work. The population of Venice is now down to 49,000. This is the real issue. We need people to live here. Instead there are ever more hotels for tourists. We don’t want an entrance fee. We want more affordable homes.”
Venice council insists the entrance fee is not a money-making exercise and that the revenue will barely be enough to cover the administration of the scheme.
Many Venetians are unhappy with that, saying that if an entrance charge has to be imposed, the proceeds should go towards improving housing, transport and public services.
“I live on one of the outer islands in the lagoon and the roads are full of potholes,” said Giuseppe, a bar owner who declined to give his surname. “And I think the charge will take money out of the pockets of restaurants and cafes. If a family of four spends €20 on entering Venice, they’ll be inclined to spend less on food and drink.”
Jan van der Borg, an economics professor and expert on tourism at Venice’s Ca’ Foscari University, believes the entrance fee will not succeed in reducing the tourist crush.
Around 30 million tourists visited Venice each year, of whom 21 million were day-trippers, he said.
The many categories of people who are exempt from the charge would make it difficult to enforce, he said. “And we are already hearing that people are sharing their QR codes on Twitter to cheat the system and not have to pay. The scheme is highly inefficient and will cost more than the money it will bring in.”
He accused Venetian authorities of fast-tracking the payment scheme after Unesco last year threatened to place the city on its “World Heritage in Danger” list because of the threat posed by mass tourism.
“It was a ticking time bomb which the mayor needed to defuse. Not many people will be dissuaded by having to pay five euros. It’s less than the price of a beer in a regular bar in Venice. I don’t think it’s going to have any effect on the numbers.”