Day-trippers will have to pay €5 to visit Italian city under scheme designed to protect it from excess tourism
Authorities in Venice have been accused of transforming the famous lagoon city into a “theme park” as a long-mooted entrance fee for day trippers comes into force.
Venice is the first major city in the world to enact such a scheme. The €5 (£4.30) charge, which comes into force today, is aimed at protecting the Unesco world heritage site from the effects of excessive tourism by deterring day trippers and, according to the mayor, Luigi Brugnaro, making the city “livable” again.
But several residents’ committees and associations have planned protests for Thursday, arguing that the fee will do nothing to resolve the issue.
“I can tell you that almost the entire city is against it,” claimed Matteo Secchi, who leads Venessia.com, a residents’ activist group. “You can’t impose an entrance fee to a city; all they’re doing is transforming it into a theme park. This is a bad image for Venice … I mean, are we joking?”
“Venice is the first major city in the world to enact such a scheme.”
London has been charging an entry fee for it’s downtown core for years now.
https://www.visitlondon.com/traveller-information/getting-around-london/congestion-charge
That’s only for vehicles. It isn’t the same thing.
It’s essentially the same thing. Too many people are coming, so charge them a fee. The only reason Venice is per person and not per vehicle is that it’s an island, it’s not like you can drive there.
It may seem like that to the average american, but nobody with more than 1 braincell drives in London. Even when your the congestion charge, you’re basically always better off walking or taking the Underground.
This prevents cars, not people. They’re very much not the same thing.
You can drive in Venice. Well, you could if you’d removed all the tourists.
The London thing does not apply to pedestrians
There is a difference in intent.
The congestion charge in London and other cities is just for cars whole the cities generally provide good mass transit across the toll line.
Venice is charging an admission fee to all tourists no matter how they arrive. Given how low the fee is, all it will probably do is raise revenue for the local government.
It’s essentially the same thing. Too many people are coming, so charge them a fee.
No, it’s not the same thing. Cars don’t have a place in the cities, cities are for humans.