Day-trippers will have to pay €5 to visit Italian city under scheme designed to protect it from excess tourism
Authorities in Venice have been accused of transforming the famous lagoon city into a “theme park” as a long-mooted entrance fee for day trippers comes into force.
Venice is the first major city in the world to enact such a scheme. The €5 (£4.30) charge, which comes into force today, is aimed at protecting the Unesco world heritage site from the effects of excessive tourism by deterring day trippers and, according to the mayor, Luigi Brugnaro, making the city “livable” again.
But several residents’ committees and associations have planned protests for Thursday, arguing that the fee will do nothing to resolve the issue.
“I can tell you that almost the entire city is against it,” claimed Matteo Secchi, who leads Venessia.com, a residents’ activist group. “You can’t impose an entrance fee to a city; all they’re doing is transforming it into a theme park. This is a bad image for Venice … I mean, are we joking?”
You have to pay 5€ to visit a giant sewer city with no trees in sight and two people per every square meter. A bargain.
Shush you, Venice is magnificent. Wouldn’t want to live there but it’s an extraordinary place absolutely worth experiencing. Ancient, labyrinthine, palaces and churches everywhere, it’s like stepping into the Renaissance.
Good point. But I enjoyed “shush you” the most
I’m upvoting you for adding to the conversation even though we have different opinions. Sadly, people don’t understand how the moderation system is supposed to work.
You don’t care for culture, gotcha. Now do Disneyland!