Venice's Authority Increases Entry Fees From 2025 To Reduce The Number Of Tourists

Grand Canal Venice. (Wikimedia Commons/gnuckx)

JAKARTA - Venice plans to raise entry costs for tourists to one of the world's most famous destinations, after the imposition of current entry fees has limited impacts to reduce the number of visitors.

Venice for the first time imposed an entry fee of 5 euros in April for daily tourists arriving on very crowded days, hoping to limit visitors.

The pilot scheme, which has been closely monitored by other European tourist spots, only lasted 29 days and ended two weeks ago, paving the way for a consultation period to decide how to continue the project in the future.

Simone Venturini, a member of the city council in charge of tourism and social cohesion, said the initial assessment was positive and confirmed the system would be updated by 2025, although admitting that there were still many visitors.

"Pada beberapa akhir pekan, jumlah pengunjung lebih kurang dibandingkan dengan waktu yang sama tahun lalu. Tetapi, tidak ada pun mengharapkan semua wisatawan harian akan hilang secara magic," katanya, dilansir dari Reuters 25 Juli.

"This will be more effective in the coming years when we increase the number of days and increase prices," he added, without saying how many visitors might have to pay by 2025.

The City Council of Venice seeks to prevent a surge in daily tourists, especially during weekends and holidays when visitors can reach 100,000, doubling the number of local residents. However, people who have hotel reservations don't have to pay a retribution.

However, not everyone in Venice, which is a UNESCO world heritage site, thinks the scheme should continue.

"This is a complete failure. The city is still full of tourists," said opposition council member Giovanni Andrea Right, adding the number of people paying the costs had decreased as news spread that the threatened fines were not realized.

Venturini admits "very little, or maybe no fine", but says it was a deliberate soft start.

"In this phase of the experiment, rather than fine people, we focus on providing them with information," he said.

They recommend a free booking system for visitor slots to prevent low-income families from being able to pay, but the system is able to track potential tourist arrivals.

"We need to warn people, if they come on certain days, they won't have fun," he said, adding the long-term goal was to bring back permanent residents who had left the city in recent years as short-term rentals dominated the housing market.