Antitrust, 20 million fine for Colosseum ticket offices

Maxi fine by the Antitrust Authority to the Colosseum Archaeological Park ticketing services for the prolonged unavailability of tickets for access to the area, also due to hoarding via bots and other automated tools. The Antitrust Authority fined the Società Cooperativa Culture (CoopCulture) and tour operators Tiqets International, GetYourGuide Deutschland, Walks, Italy With Family, City Wonders Limited and Musement for almost EUR 20 million.

The investigation had been launched in July 2023 after the Antitrust Authority had collected various pieces of information highlighting the substantial impossibility of purchasing tickets for admission to the Colosseum Archaeological Park online. The Authority has imposed a fine of €7 million on CoopCulture, which managed from 1997 to 2024 the official service of selling tickets for access to the Colosseum, 'because it has contributed, in full knowledge, to the phenomenon of the serious and prolonged unavailability of entry tickets for the Colosseum at basic prices'.

In particular, 'CoopCulture, on the one hand, did not take adequate initiatives to deal with the hoarding of admission tickets by automated methods; on the other hand, it reserved significant quantities of tickets for sale combined with its own educational visits, from which it derived significant economic benefits. It thus forced consumers to turn to tour operators and platforms that resold tickets combined with additional services (e.g. tour guide, pick-up, queue-jumping) at significantly higher prices'.

As part of the same proceedings, the Authority has also imposed fines on the above-mentioned six tour operators, who purchased tickets with bots or other automated tools, contributing to the phenomenon of the rapid depletion of tickets at basic prices on the website of the concessionaire CoopCulture. "By doing so," it reads, "these operators took advantage of the systematic unavailability of tickets that forced consumers who wanted to visit the Colosseum to find them in this way at much higher prices because they were combined with additional services offered by them or by other tour operators.

The Authority ascertained that CoopCulture's conduct constituted an unfair commercial practice in breach of Article 20(2) of the Consumer Code; the conduct implemented by Tiqets International, GetYourGuide Deutschland, Walks, Italy With Family, City Wonders Limited and Musement, on the other hand, was found to be unfair pursuant to Articles 24 and 25 of the same Code and, as of 2 April 2023, also pursuant to Article 23(1)(bb-bis) of the Code.