“Eat and Escape” tourists to charge for a fee in Venice to fight superism

“Feed and Escape” tourists are charged to fight openism in Venice. However, the sentiment about the real success of the fee plan is different.

Starting Friday, Venice will bring back controversial admission fees to visitors who only come to the city on the same day. The reason why it is called “eat and escape” tourists is because they come to Venice to take pictures and don’t spend money to leave, and if they want to enjoy the beauty of the city, these people will be charged.

Those people’s fees Book three days in advance their visit to the city is 5 euros. Those who wait and decide to visit will pay 10 euros.

This is an increase from the price increase from the first time the fee plan started last year. The plan has also been extended from 30 days this year to 54 days. The goal is to keep as many tourists as possible during the peak of travel time, peaking with 110,000 visitors per day in 2024. If they are not far away, they will be paid for visiting Venice.

For those who think they will enter the city without paying and will not notice it in the sea of ​​tourists, think again. Authorities will check to ensure the purchase of a pass Day and night. If you do not purchase a pass, you must pay a fine of more than $300.

There are some exemptions for fees. Those locals, workers, students or those visiting Venice to visit their families can register for a QR code to verify that they are not tourists on a day trip. However, without code, these people will need a pass or may also face a fine.

Fees incurred $3.2 million last yearthe amount earned this year is expected to be higher. However, this may not necessarily be good news, as the goal is to keep day trip visitors outside, rather than encourage them to come in large numbers.

The Venetian says the fee doesn’t seem to change

Although officials claimed that the cost of entering Venice was to make a difference by avoiding tourists who just wanted to take selfies and not spend money on the local economy, Venetians were different about the situation.

According to locals, there is no difference in traffic when the city charges admission fees to the city and when tourists can visit Venice for free. When this observation becomes a fact era Released results of internal polls This indicates that “there is no significant fluctuation between the days when the access fee is provided and the days when the access fee is not visited”.

Additionally, officials told the publication that during the trial, the implementation costs of tourism in Venice were to be viewed, “higher attendance was recorded on the days of the trial activity.”

Monica Sambo, a member of the city lawyer who opposed the fee, said it would definitely happen.

“It’s obvious from the beginning: You can’t manage a complex city like Venice by turning the city into an entrance fee for a theme park.” – Monica Sambo

It is not controversial that travel expenses have brought money to Venice. However, it is questionable whether it reduces the number of visitors to the city at one time.

Venice is at risk of ending on UNESCO’s list of endangered cities

In cities across Europe, openism is a real problem. However, with regard to Venice, the city has encountered so many problems in the past few years that it faces a real threat to be a UNESCO-like city end.

Cities are placed on UNESCO’s endangered list When there is a “serious threat to its preservation.” As far as Venice is concerned, the number of people coming to the city each year is a threat at hand.

Although Venice has taken measures to mitigate the number of people coming to the city, such as banning cruise ships, now levys for one-day travelers for the second consecutive year, UNESCO has further recommendations To get the city to help it leave the list.

According to UNESCO, Venice faces the threat of being added to the list in 2020. However, when cruise ships are prohibited, this is narrow avoidance. But it was not only the cruise ships that polluted the waterways around Venice. Smaller boats that bring visitors into the surrounding area and use the Grand Canal can also cause pollution.

However, according to BBC, While no warning was found about Venice that it faced “irreversible” harms and that if there was no way to protest, overdevelopment and climate change could be found, officials claimed UNESCO was connected to the reality of Venice and the changes that had been implemented to keep the urban culture alive.

According to former mayor Massimo Cacciari, UNESCO is “one of the most expensive and useless bodies on earth.”

“They didn’t give us any changes to the fund, all they did was criticize… It seems Venice needs a UNESCO website to become a World Heritage Site! We need more action and less words.” -Massimo cacciari

Despite UNESCO’s backlash, the group held on to the basis that claims that these responses are often “insufficient” when they request “update and timetables” and “when will change it.”

Venice’s goal for charges this year is to get people out of Venice, they just want to come for a few hours without having to spend any money in the city. Whether this will stop tourists or just add money to the local economy remains to be seen.