Venice Italy — Venice concludes on Sunday a pilot program charge an entrance fee to hikers, more than 2 million euros ($2.2 million) richer and determined to extend the tax, but opponents in the fragile lagoon city called the experiment a failure.
Several dozen activists gathered outside the Santa Lucia train station on Saturday, overlooking a crowded canal, to protest against the 5-euro ($5.45) tax that they say did little to deter visitors to arrive on peak days, as planned.
“The fine is a failure, as shown by the city’s data,” said Giovanni Andrea Martini, an opposition councilor.
During the first 11 days of the trial period, an average of 75,000 visitors were registered in the city. Martini said that is 10,000 more each day than on three indicative holidays in 2023, citing figures provided by the city based on mobile phone data that tracks arrivals to the city.
Venice imposed the much discussed hiker tax this year, for 29 days, mostly weekends and holidays, from April 25 to mid-July. The project, delayed by the pandemic, was announced by UNESCO member states when they decided not to accept a recommendation to include the city on their list of world heritage sites in danger.
In the past two and a half months, nearly 438,000 tourists have paid the tax, generating revenue of about 2.19 million euros ($2.4 million), according to AP calculations based on data provided by the city. Officials said the money would be used for essential services, which cost more in a city crisscrossed by canals, including garbage collection and maintenance.
The tax was not applied to people staying in hotels in Venice, who are already charged an accommodation tax. Exemptions It also applies to children under 14 years of age, residents of the region, students, workers and people visiting relatives, among others.
The city’s top tourism official, Simone Venturini, has indicated that the tax will be maintained and reinforced. A proposal to double the fare to 10 euros is being considered for next year, a city spokesperson said.
The officials promised High fines for violators, but in the end none were delivered during checks at entry points, which ranged from a low of 8,500 to a high of 20,800 per day during the period. City officials say that’s because they wanted a soft launch. Critics say it resulted in a downward trend in payments, as visitors understood there was no risk in avoiding payment.
Opponents of the plan say it failed to make the city more liveable for residents as expected, with narrow sidewalks and water taxis as crowded as ever. They want policies that encourage the repopulation of Venice’s historic center, which has been losing residents to the more convenient mainland for decades, including imposing limits on short-term rentals.
There are currently more places for tourists in the channeled historic center than there are official residents, whose number stands at a historic low of 50,000.
“Wanting to raise this to 10 euros is absolutely useless. “This turns Venice into a museum,” Martini said.
Many of the signs at Saturday’s protest also indicated growing concern about the electronic and video surveillance system the city introduced in 2020 to monitor the cell phone data of people arriving in the city, which is the backbone backbone of the system to control tourism. The posters included warnings about the use of personal data and lack of data privacy.
“The access ticket is a big distraction for the media, which only talks about these 5 euros, which will become 10 euros next year,” said Giovanni Di Vito, a Venice resident active in the campaign against the fee. tour. “But no one focuses on the citizen surveillance and control system.”
___
This story has been corrected to say that almost 438,000 visitors have paid the fee.
This story originally appeared on ABCNews.go.com read the full story
