Venice, the day ticket will bring 2.4 million into the municipality's coffers in 2024
So far, on the fifteen days on which the EUR 5 entrance fee has been applied, admissions have averaged 16,500
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The Venice trial of the entrance ticket in the 8.30 a.m. to 4 p.m. slot for daily tourists has reached the halfway mark: after 15 days (out of the 29 scheduled for 2024 until July) visitors who registered in advance and paid 5 euro were almost 248 thousand in total, with a revenue of 1.24 million euro. If the daily average of paid admissions (16,527) is confirmed for the next 14 days, 2.4 million euros will arrive in the Serenissima's coffers.
By 2025, the administration led by mayor Luigi Brugnaro could increase the number of days on which the 'access fee' required of occasional visitors to the ancient city (i.e. those who do not spend at least one night there in an accommodation facility) will be triggered. From next year, registration and payment will also be required to visit the smaller islands in the lagoon (including the Lido). The junta has ruled out resorting to a closed number in the future but may introduce a daily threshold, i.e. the number of accesses beyond which the amount of the fee may rise (up to 10 euro , the maximum value applicable by law parameterised to the limits of the tourist tax). Adjustments that will increase revenue.
The next paydays
.The day with the highest number of admissions so far was Friday 26 April, the second of the trials that fell in the middle of the long bridge that began with Liberation Day: 23,600 registrations. The next day (27 April) and Saturday 4 May also exceeded the 20,000 admissions threshold. The next two days are scheduled for the weekend of 25 and 26 May. There will then be eight days in June (8 and 9, 15 and 16, 22 and 23, 29 and 30) and the first two weekends in July.
Exemptions
Apart from guests of accommodation facilities (who pay the tourist tax), residents of the Veneto Region are not required to pay the ticket for visiting Venice. However, on the days when the trial is active, they must register (but the obligation does not apply to children up to 14 years of age and those born in the Venetian municipality). Last 19 May 7,792 people did so. Also exempt are students, workers, property owners who pay Imu and leaseholders who have not moved their residence to the ancient city, and relatives.
Criticism from the opposition
.Criticism of the measure introduced on an experimental basis after the numbers of the first few days came from opposition members. City councillor Giovanni Andrea Martini, group leader of the 'Tutta la città insieme' list, speaks of a 'resounding failure'. The entrance fee is not a brake on hypterurism: the arrivals recorded 'are numerically higher than in previous years'. On 19 May, Martini says, Venice saw '70 thousand admissions' (a sum arrived at by adding the 18,191 paying visitors and 55,800 codes issued for exempt guests in accommodation facilities), while 'on 23 April last year there were 66 thousand' and 'on 2 June 2023, a national holiday, there were 65 thousand'. Venice would represent the emblem of the open city but which today finds itself being 'closed due to the political will of an administration that brings home some money with this measure'.
