VENICE, Italy (AP) — Venice on Sunday Pilot Program It stands to make more than 2 million euros ($2.2 million) from charging entrance fees to day-trippers and is determined to extend the tax, but opponents in the fragile lagoon city say the experiment is a failure.
Dozens of activists gathered Saturday outside Santa Lucia train station overlooking the busy canal to protest against the 5 euro ($5.45) tax, which they say has done little to deter tourists during peak hours as originally planned.
“This election is a failure, as the city’s data makes clear,” said opposition city council member Giovanni Andrea Martini.
Over the first 11 days of the trial period, the city saw an average of 75,000 tourists visit — 10,000 more per day than over the three major holidays in 2023, Martini said, citing figures provided by the city based on cellphone data that tracks visitors to the city.
Venice has long been debated Day tripper tax This year it will run for 29 days, mostly weekends and holidays, from April 25 to mid-July. The project, which was postponed due to the pandemic, attracted attention after UNESCO member states rejected a recommendation that the city be added to its World Heritage List. World Heritage in Danger.
Some 450,000 tourists paid the tax in the past two and a half months, raising about 2.2 million euros ($2.4 million), according to AP calculations based on data provided by the city. Officials said the money would go to essential services such as trash removal and maintenance, which are costly in the canal-ridden city.
The tax did not apply to people staying in Venice hotels, as they are already subject to a room tax. Exemption This also applies to children under 14, local residents, students, workers and people visiting relatives.
The city’s tourism chief, Simone Venturini, suggested the tax would remain and be strengthened, and a city spokesman said proposals were under consideration to double the fee to 10 euros next year.
The authorities promised Heavy fines for violatorsBut ultimately, no cash was handed out at checkpoints, which fluctuated from a low of 8,500 to a high of 20,800 per day during the period. City officials said they wanted a soft launch. Critics say payments tended to decline as visitors realized there was no risk in avoiding paying.
Opponents say the plan, which is intended to make the city more livable but failed, is still crowded with narrow sidewalks and water taxis. They want policies, such as limits on short-term rentals, to encourage residents to move back to Venice’s historic center, which has seen decades of migration to more convenient areas on the mainland.
The canal-lined historic centre now has an all-time low of 50,000 official residents, outnumbered by tourist accommodation.
“There’s no point trying to raise it to 10 euros. It would turn Venice into a museum,” said Martini, the city council member.
Many of the banners at Saturday’s protest also expressed growing concern about the electronic and video surveillance system the city installed in 2020 that is the backbone of its tourism management system and monitors the mobile phone data of people visiting the city. The placards included warnings about the use of personal data and a lack of data privacy.
“The tickets are a big distraction for the media, who are always talking about the five euros that will become ten next year,” said Giovanni Di Vito, a Venice resident who has been active in campaigning against the tourist tax, “but no one is paying attention to the system that monitors and controls citizens.”
