Venice, entry ticket kicks off: here are days it will be in effect, cost, excluded and exempt

Ticket in Venice: it’s on, or rather: it’s off. Dates for the year 2024 regarding the entrance fee regulations approved last September were released. A total of 29 days, the first of which will be April 25, 2024. After years of discussions and stances, next year should be the breakthrough year on the over-tourism front in the lagoon. The entrance fee should curb, at least according to the administration’s intentions, the number of visitors and thus reduce the mass of tourists who flock to Venice each year by driving away residents. The beds offered on hotel booking portals and the like exceeded the number of residents in Venice in September.

But let’s see how it works. It will be a total of 29 days, the first test of which will be the 11 days starting from April 25 to May 5, then continuing on Saturdays and Sundays in May (11 and 12, 18 and 19, 25 and 26), June (8 and 9, 15 and 16, 22 and 23, 29 and 30) and July (6 and 7, 13 and 14). The fee will be due for those entering the Old City from 8:30 a.m. to 4 p.m.(a graphic summarizing all the information is available at this link).

As known, the measure, which originates from the Budget Law of 2019, then updated in 2021, aims to define a new system of managing tourist flows and to disincentivize daily tourism in Venice during certain periods, in line with the delicacy and uniqueness of the City.

The amount for 2024 will be 5 euros per day and there will be no reductions. There will also be no identification of an attendance threshold beyond which to apply a surcharge on the access fee. The fee will be applied only to the Old City and not to the smaller islands including the Lido of Venice (including Alberoni and Malamocco), Pellestrina, Murano, Burano, Torcello, Sant’Erasmo, Mazzorbo, Mazzorbetto, Vignole, Sant’Andrea, the Certosa, San Servolo, San Clemente, and Poveglia. The “heart of the system” will be the multichannel, multilingual platform, implemented by Venis Spa. Collection will be done directly by the City of Venice, mainly through a web-app that can be reached at https://cda.ve.it by accessing which one can obtain the title (QR Code) to be shown in case of controls. The title certifies the payment of the contribution or the condition of exclusion/exemption and should always be kept with you.

Specifically, it has been established that the Access Fee must be paid by every individual, over the age of 14, who accesses the Ancient City of the Municipality of Venice, unless they fall into the categories of exclusions and exemptions. In general, the fee will be charged to day visitors who do not stay at facilities placed in the City of Venice.

Pursuant to the Law, residents of the Municipality of Venice, workers (employees or self-employed), including commuters, students of any grade and order of schools and universities located in the Old City or the smaller islands, and individuals and members of households of those who are found to have paid IMU in the Municipality of Venice will not have to pay the Access Contribution.

They are exempt from paying the Access Fee, but will have to be registered on the portal https://cda.ve.it all those staying in accommodation facilities located within the municipal territory (overnight tourists), residents of the Veneto Region, children up to 14 years of age, those in need of care, those participating in sports competitions, law enforcement officers on duty, spouse, cohabitant, relatives or relatives-in-law up to the 3rd degree of residents in areas where the Access Fee applies, and an additional set of exemptions provided in the Regulations.

The Municipal Administration may use the tools provided by the regulations for the recovery of evasion and avoidance and in particular carry out audits, inspections and inspections through authorized personnel at the main access points in the City. The administrative penalty is from 50 euros to 300 euros (+10 euros of the access fee), with the possibility of prosecution under the Criminal Code and special laws on the subject to anyone who makes false statements, forms false documents or uses them in the cases provided for in the Regulations.

“It is not a revolution, but the first step of a path that regulates the access of day visitors,” Mayor Brugnaro said when presenting the calendar. “An experiment that aims to improve the livability of the city, those who live and work in it. We will carry it out with great humility and with the awareness that there may be problems. The margins for error are wide, but we are ready, with humility and courage, to make all the changes that will be needed to improve the procedure. Venice is the first city in the world to implement this path, which may set an example for other fragile and delicate cities that need to be safeguarded. The monitoring of the flow of visitors will be constant, thanks to the invaluable support of the Smart Control Room where we receive information from cameras, people counting sensors, phone cells, museum ticket issuance, and time stamps at piers and landing stages. Thanks to this information we can already have a forecasting picture that has enabled us to identify the ’black dot’ days that will allow us to curb overcrowding. Since the 1950s we keep saying that Venice is a dying city,” the mayor then added, “we reiterate today that Venice is a living city, which will continue to be open to tourists who come from all over the world to visit it, with respect. We are approaching to begin a journey made possible thanks to the administrative action that for eight years, thanks also to the efficiency of the Budget, has allowed us to invest important resources to solve a problem, that of tourist flows, which everyone has always talked about but never done anything about. As early as next January, we will start a communication campaign internationally and to citizens to publicize the contents of the experiment.”

The measure is on an experimental basis, but it is undoubtedly a major breakthrough in the management of tourist flows in Venice, and the series of exemptions provided will seek to ensure access to Venice for those who work, study, have loved ones, have health needs or must travel out of necessity to the regional capital, which hosts so many administrative functions.

“Venice,” said Tourism Councillor Simone Venturini, “is an accessible, open city, but visitors, both national and international, must understand that proper planning is needed to better manage the delicate balance between residency and tourism. After the City Council approved the Access Fee Regulations, the Administration has worked to calibrate the characteristics and timing of its experimentation with the aim not of making cash but of developing, first in the world, a tool capable of identifying a new balance between the needs of those who live, work or study in Venice and those who want to visit and learn about it. Ours is a humble and proactive approach to disincentivize daily tourism, because the ”hit and run“ complicates the management of flows on certain days, in favor of all visitors who intend to get to know our city in greater depth by taking the right amount of time (at least one night) to get in tune with it and to discover its artistic heritage, its traditions, and its crafts.”

Image: Venice, the Grand Canal. Photo: Dan Novak

Venice, entry ticket kicks off: here are days it will be in effect, cost, excluded and exempt

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