Venice set to charge entry free to discourage 1-day visitors ‘clogging up city’

The Italian authorities have announced they will begin charging an entry fee for tourists to get into the historic city of canals.

According to reports, the fee hopes to discourage travellers who 'clog up' the city by visiting it for just one day.

Previous data shows 100,000 visitors and holidays per day flow into the city, visiting world famous attractions such as St Mark’s Basilica and the Rialto Bridge.

However, in just a few weeks, holidaymakers will have to pay for the privilege of entering the city.

The move will see tourists having to book a ticket online, and the tickets will be valid for just one day only.

This means that the number of tourists allowed to enter the city can be capped by the authorities.

Tickets will be bought on the internet and will cost five Euros.

The city’s deputy mayor for tourism claims that they intend to encourage people to visit Venice for longer, rather than just entering the city for the day and 'flooding' it.

Simone Venturini said: "The aim is to discourage one-day tourism, hit-and-run tourism, arriving in one day and leaving in the same day, tiring and stressing the city, and encouraging slower tourism instead.”

Along with the gates – which are already in place – there will be 500 cameras monitoring people who enter the city.

The cameras will broadcast to authorities who will monitor them at all times, constantly on the look-out for tourists who haven’t bought a ticket in advance.

The Venetian police will also be given the power to track tourists and establish their identity through real-time data provided through mobile phones.

Maria Teresa Maniero, the deputy commander of the Venice police force, said: "If I enter the data in the aggregated anonymous form, we can see exactly who these people are: 977 foreigners, 800 Italians, 135 residents, and 139 commuters.”

It's also hoped that the system will make travelling around the city easier for residents, not least because they’ll be able to move about a bit easier due to the – expected – lower rates of tourists.

Venice residents will be exempt from the admission fee.

The Italian government has been planning to introduce restrictions for a while now, given the vulnerability of the archipelago city.

Although no definitive date has yet been set for the introduction of the measures, and the date has been postponed on several occasions already, they are expected to come into force within a few weeks.

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