Test phase for entrance fee in Venice starts from June

Actually, day tourists in Venice should pay admission from July 1, 2020 – at least three euros were planned. But everything turned out differently because of the corona pandemic, and the fee is not to be introduced until 2023. However, a test phase is planned for this year.

After the planned entrance fee for day tourists in Venice in 2020 was initially postponed by a year, but then was not introduced in 2021 due to Corona either, a new start date has now been set: it should be at the beginning of 2023.

Trial period for entrance fees in Venice from June

As the Italian daily newspaper “La Repubblica” reports, a six-month test phase for the entrance fee in Venice is to begin in June. Accordingly, visitors who voluntarily register for the entrance fee on a corresponding website should receive certain incentives in return. These include, for example, reduced admission prices for museums or other institutions. According to the newspaper, the exact plan for the test phase is still being worked out. They want to announce it in the coming weeks.

“Those who go to a hotel do not have to pay an access fee as there is already a tourist tax. But those who come during the day have to pay the fee,” La Repubblica quoted Simone Venturini, Venice’s deputy councilor for tourism.

Tourist flows are digitally monitored

The city set up a new digital control center last year to monitor the flow of tourists in Venice. There, various data are displayed in real time on huge screens. These include, among other things, the number and type of boats on the canals of the historic city and the parking situation in public parking lots. You can also see images from cameras distributed throughout the city.

The current flow of people and tourists in the city is also displayed. To do this, sensors measure how many people enter Venice each day and how many leave the city again. The data also shows which countries or regions of Italy the people come from. You can also see where they are within the city. The award-winning system, costing around three million euros, forms the basis for the administration of the planned entry fee. “Thanks to this system, for the first time we can know with certainty how many people are in the city,” said Venturini.

Rush of visitors over Easter

According to “La Repubblica”, there has been a real rush of visitors to Venice, especially in the past few days over Easter. Many visitors only stay one day in the lagoon city, for example due to the arrival of cruise ships. The fee for day guests and cruise passengers should be up to 10 euros at weddings and three euros on less frequented days. “When setting the access fee, we will set a maximum limit of 40 or 50 thousand visitors per day as a guideline,” explained Venturini.