Venice is overflowing with tourists: will charging tourists be enough to prevent it from collapsing? | the world

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“Venetian life has become disgusting. You can’t live anymore, there are too many people, too much tourism, nothing to contribute, dirty and left behind,” laments 87-year-old Giovanni.

And he’s still right. Venice no longer has a place for Venetians, which is why many have chosen to leave, as it has become an unlivable and uninhabitable city. In response to this situation, authorities have been studying strategies for years to prevent La Serenissima from becoming an open-air museum.

In the middle of the month, and after several visits, the municipal council approved a €5 payment for visitors who arrived in the city during the day and did not spend the night. It is the first city in the world to implement this type of ‘tourist fee’ (or access contribution) to reduce the number of so-called ‘hit and run’ tourists: those who arrive, tour the city, and leave a lot. In their wake there was rubbish, and almost no euros in public coffers.

For Venice, this type of visitor is almost the majority, because for them it is a place that can be reached on foot, in gondolas or even in boats called ‘vaperettos’. Islands and its cost is less.

While no details have yet been given on when this toll collection will begin, it is estimated to take place in the spring or summer of 2024 (end of March or beginning of June). Policy, 30 days not yet appointed. . Visitors staying one or more nights, minors under the age of 14, those coming to the city for study or work, residents of the Veneto region and law enforcement agencies are exempt.

“The aim is to encourage daily tourism at specific times, in accordance with the taste and uniqueness of the city,” the Consistory, or Council of Venice, said in a statement.

As is the case in other cities of the world, it should be noted that those who spend the night already pay a kind of tax, which is influenced by the load of tourists, which is included in hotels, hostels or rentals. The detail is, precisely, that overnight stays in Venice are very low compared to tourists who only spend the day, so don’t pay that tax.

Flooded with visitors

The big question is whether charging a nominal fee like 5 euros will save the city while encouraging mass tourism.

“The World Tourism Organization has invited the Setnet Group (Cities of Southern Europe against Tourism) to its next summit, which will bring together 14 cities to address the problem of mass tourism and discuss solutions, because those people already have a problem. Those who live in these places,” the National Chamber of Commerce told El Comercio. Tito Alegria, Managing Director of Tourism (Canadour) explains.

Emanuele Dal Carlo, director of Fairbnb, an accommodation site linked to social projects in Venice, needs long-term plans, not just emergency ones. “We need a radical change and the municipality must take significant measures, for example, to offer financial incentives to owners who only rent to Venetians,” worries Matteo Cecchi, lead Venezia.comA group fighting to preserve the city’s heritage and monitor its population, which continues to decline.

“Venice is an open and free city and will always be. But we have decided to protect it from years of immobility.”

Luigi Brugnaro, Mayor of Venice

“Tourism is a double-edged sword because, on the one hand, it gets money from travelers, but on the other hand it drives out residents. The danger is that we will perish and Venice will become a theme park,” he tells “The Guardian”.

Excessive tourism has greatly increased the cost of living in the city, not only in food, but especially in housing, because most owners prefer to rent their houses to visitors, while many shops that sell basic goods for years now prefer to sell souvenirs, which are not even made in Venice, but in China or In India.

Tradition at risk

Days after Venice’s municipal council decided to charge a ‘tourist fee’, the UNESCO committee (the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization) decided to give the city more time to avoid adding it to the list of World Heritage in Danger. It has again warned that there will be consequences if the action continues. The City of Canals has been a World Heritage Site since 1987.

According to UNESCO, three factors threaten to “cause irreversible changes in the global and exceptional value” of Venice: the impact of climate change (due to rising seas), mass tourism and urban reform projects.

“When Venice isn’t defined by its own problems – waterfalls, floods, congestion and high costs – it’s presented as a ‘postcard city’, great for selfies and photos on Instagram. Ironically, it is not considered a city of culture,” Dal Carlo points out to the British newspaper “The Telegraph”.

Venice is more than St. Mark’s Square, its canals and gondolas. Its historical and cultural heritage is enormous, not only because of its extraordinary architecture with its Byzantine, Gothic, Renaissance and Baroque palaces, but also because its museums contain works of incalculable value. It is unique in its engineering as it is built on marshland and is supported by more than 20 million wooden pillars.

If Venice had withstood the ravages of time and climate in the 16 centuries, it could not be expected to collapse due to the exaggerated pace of reckless tourism.