Skift Take
Venetians may raise the new entrance fee to 10 euros and broaden its scope, aiming to attract more tourists wanting to explore a civilised, off-the-beaten-path Venice.
Dawit Habtemariam
Venice is seeing its tourist admission fees as an early success, with one official telling Skift that it may double the fees next year and start charging them more frequently.
Simone Venturini, deputy mayor for tourism, said the fee fits into the city’s broader strategy to reposition itself from a “low-cost tourist hub” to a luxury destination while protecting the city’s beauty and community.
Skift spoke with Venturini about the fees and the city’s tourism management efforts. This interview has been edited for clarity.
1. Admission fee could expand to 10 euros for 100 days
Starting April 25, tourists not staying at a hotel will have to pay a 5 euro (about $5.40) entrance fee before entering Venice, which applies only on 29 select days from April to July.
What are the initial results of the tourism tax and how will the revenues be used?
Venturini: Before the first day of charging the fee, we were very concerned that queues would become crowded and cause discomfort for commuters and international tourists. The system is designed to be easy, soft and welcoming, not a police state that will stop people from entering.
There are some encouraging signs. Everything is going well. We were very surprised by how willing people were to show us the core code when they arrived in Venice, even people who came from all over Italy. People understand what we want to do.
Next year, they will probably raise the tax by 10 euros and add more days, extending it up to 100 days instead of just 29. Of course, this could go even further, but since it’s a world-first experiment, let’s start with small steps.
We won’t be raising a lot of money this year, and the costs of starting up the system will be more than we make this year.
Over the next few years, more days and higher taxes will bring some resources to the city, and we will use this money to maintain the city and provide water, saltwater, and more. [corrosive] than regular water.
2. Venice admission fees target Italian day-trippers
The entrance fee is quite cheap: 5 euros does not deter international tourists from coming to Venice.
Venturini: This is aimed at local and short-distance tourists from the Italian regions. Short-distance tourists may be encouraged to choose alternative days rather than busy days, which may reduce stress on the city.
On the other hand, there are tourists from the sea who go to the beaches. They arrive by boat and overwhelm the city on rainy or cloudy days. During the 29-day trial period this year, these types of tourists can also refrain from visiting Venice.
Simone Venturini, Deputy Mayor for Tourism;
3. What everyone misunderstands about Venice admission prices
Protests against the admission fee received international coverage, with some critics fearing that Venice would turn into a theme park.
The first misconception was that the people of Venice were against this tax: some small local parties were against the law and organized protests of 200 people, but our city has 250,000 inhabitants, so 200 people who complain are not the majority of the city.
On the other hand, we are walking the edge of being misunderstood, because we don’t want Venice to be seen as a theme park where you pay the entrance fee and you can do anything you want. Venice is a living city.
At least 35,000 people visit every day – not tourists, but commuters, people who live in the nearest areas of Venice, people who work in Venice, students, etc. This is a city that cannot close its gates in the morning and open them again, so managing all these factors is very difficult and all measures have to be balanced.
4. Why Venice is now addressing overtourism
Has Venice not managed tourism effectively in the past?
For the last ten years, tourism in Italy was all just incidental: there was no plan, no national strategy, and cities suffered from tourism without any opportunity to manage it.
The COVID-19 pandemic was a great opportunity to reflect on the need to rebuild the entire tourism industry in the city, and the post-COVID recovery is an opportunity for us to focus on quality rather than quantity.
5. Steps to Promote Quality Tourism
How will Venice do that?
We are also working on reinventing the hotel industry, with fewer rooms, larger scale, and of course more services, better quality, and a new image for the hotels. At least five or six very important hotels are currently undergoing renovation, such as the Danieli Hotel and the Bauer Hotel.
They also put a cap on the number of hotels that could open in city centers a few years ago. They are also starting new rules on Airbnb and short-term rentals. In Italy, this is an important issue because we are one of the few countries in Europe that has not introduced a national law on short-term rentals. Each city is trying to manage and balance this new phenomenon on its own. I think they will be ready to introduce regulations in September.
We have even rerouted the cruise ships that used to arrive in large numbers at the square; now only one or two arrive at the industrial port and visit Venice. We are building a new, smaller terminal for cruise ships outside Venice city center, keeping day trippers away.
The policy of loudspeakers and group size restrictions will start on August 1st. Tourist groups cannot exceed 25 people each. We want to keep group sizes small because we want to improve the quality of your visit. Also, large groups can cause stress to the city. We are not a theme park, so we just banned loudspeakers.
6. Venice hosts high-end conferences, incentive meetings and exhibitions
What is Venice’s broader strategy?
With its thriving Biennale Art, film festivals, many events and fashion shows, Venice is leading the glittering moment and we have many partnerships with the luxury sector: fashion, jewellery, film festivals and contemporary art.
But now Venice has a lot going on, and this partnership has rebranded Venice’s identity as a city where the best things happen, rather than a cheesy tourist capital. We are in the middle of this transformation, and we need to drive it.
We organize a lot of events and we are promoting the MICE sector, which is very important to us. Events and conferences are quality tourism because they bring together the right people who want to be there but are prepared, and so they create a lot of jobs. Not just in hotels and restaurants, but in different sectors. We are making a lot of efforts to revitalize the convention and conference sector in Venice, for example by building a new conference center on the Lido.
7. It wouldn’t be a problem if it lost its UNESCO World Heritage status
Last year, UNESCO came close to placing Venice and its lagoon on its list of World Heritage Sites in Danger.
This has been a topic in the international press, and of course we love UNESCO, but I think at the moment UNESCO is not bringing anything to the city in terms of resources, funding or support to protect the Venetian community.
So it’s not like UNESCO is saying, we can help you create jobs, we can bring in international investors, we can provide a lot of money to rebuild the city, etc. Right now we’re doing it on our own. So, of course we love UNESCO, but being blacklisted by UNESCO has no real-world impact.
