Venice wants to make tourists pay to visit the city. Mayor Luigi Brugnaro thus wants to do something about the extreme crowding in the old town. He thinks it is unfair that residents are now paying for the maintenance costs, reports NOS.
Brugnaro wants tourists to have to plunk down a minimum of 3 euros from May this year if they want to visit the center. In busier weeks in the peak season, the entrance fee should rise to 10 euros. Tourists who have booked a hotel room will not have to pay an additional amount, as they already pay a surcharge on top of the room rate.
The city council does not want to refuse anyone. Tourists would still be welcome, but it would be made a little more difficult for them. If nothing is done, Venice risks becoming unlivable, the municipality says.
Many politicians and administrators oppose the measures. The Italian Minister of Tourism, for example, considers the announced measures “unsustainable and disastrous.
Venice has a population of 50,000 and receives 30 million tourists a year. That’s 80,000 a day.
