Earlier this year, the Venetian authorities announced that tourists heading to the city on the water from next month will have to buy tickets at prices ranging from 3 to 10 euros per day.
However, it looks like the city has backtracked. The city council has voted that the booking and payment system will be launched no earlier than January 16, 2023.
And just a month ago, the city announced the launch of an online portal for incoming tourists to book time to visit .
The original launch plan was part of a larger effort to tackle the overtourism that has hit the ancient city hard. Not only has the rising sea level led to part of the area being flooded, but the situation has been exacerbated under the weight of thousands of day trip tourists.
The huge daily influx of tourists has driven up the cost of living to the point that in recent years many locals residents left the city. Five years ago, Venice had 67,000 permanent residents. As of 2022, their number has dropped to 50,000.
Entrance fee — is just one of many measures approved by officials in hopes of cutting the 100,000 people who stroll through the city's winding canals and historic squares every day.
The ticketing system will be supported by 500 television cameras installed to monitor tourists.
In addition, the police will use mobile phone data to establish real-time identities.
“If I enter the data in an aggregated anonymous form, we can see exactly who are these people: 977 foreigners, 800 Italians, 135 locals and 139 cruise ship passengers, — Maria Teresa Maniero, the Deputy Chief of Police of Venice, does not even hide.
Before the pandemic, Venice attracted up to 80,000 tourists daily, which is approximately 25 million a year.
The UNESCO World Heritage Committee considered the issue on the inclusion of Venice in its list of heritage sites in danger of extinction. But that decision was abandoned after Italy banned large cruise ships from entering Venice waters in April.