VENICE, Italy — Venice on Sunday ended a test program to charge entrance fees to day-trippers, a move that has netted it more than 2 million euros and means it intends to extend the tax, but opponents in the fragile lagoon city called the experiment a failure.
Venice reaped $2.2 million in benefits from trial day-tripper tax, critics say fails to deter tourists {{^userSubscribed}} {{/userSubscribed}} {{^userSubscribed}} {{/userSubscribed}}
Dozens of activists gathered Saturday outside Santa Lucia train station overlooking the busy canal to protest against the 5-euro tax, which they say will do little to deter tourists at peak times, as originally planned.
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“The city’s data makes it clear that this plan is a failure,” said opposition city council member Giovanni Andrea Martini.
Over the first 11 days of the trial period, the city saw an average of 75,000 tourists visit — 10,000 more per day than over the three major holidays in 2023, Martini said, citing figures provided by the city based on cellphone data that tracks visitors to the city.
Venice imposed its long-debated day-tripper tax for 29 days this year, mostly on weekends and public holidays, from April 25 to mid-July. The plan, delayed by the pandemic, was welcomed after UNESCO member states withdrew from recommending that Venice be placed on a list of World Heritage sites in danger.
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Some 438,000 tourists paid the tax in the past two and a half months, raising about 2.19 million euros, according to calculations based on data provided by the city. Officials said the money would go towards essential services such as trash removal and maintenance, which are costly in a city laced with canals.
The tax will not apply to people staying in Venice hotels, who are already subject to the occupancy tax, and exemptions also apply to children under 14, local residents, students, workers and people visiting relatives.
The city’s tourism chief, Simone Venturini, suggested the tax would remain and be strengthened, and a city spokesman said proposals were under consideration to double the fee to 10 euros next year.
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Officials promised heavy fines for violators, but ultimately no fines were levied at border checks, which fluctuated from a low of 8,500 to a high of 20,800 per day during the period. City officials said that was because they wanted a soft launch. Critics say the fines have tapered off as visitors realize there is no risk in dodging them.
Opponents say the plan, which is intended to make the city more livable but failed, is still crowded with narrow sidewalks and water taxis. They want policies, such as limits on short-term rentals, to encourage residents to move back to Venice’s historic center, which has seen decades of migration to more convenient areas on the mainland.
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The canal-lined historic centre now has an all-time low of 50,000 official residents, outnumbered by tourist accommodation.
“There’s no point trying to raise it to 10 euros. It would turn Venice into a museum,” Martini said.
Many of the banners at Saturday’s protest also expressed growing concern about the electronic and video surveillance system the city installed in 2020 that is the backbone of its tourism management system and monitors the mobile phone data of people visiting the city. The placards included warnings about the use of personal data and a lack of data privacy.
“The tickets are a big distraction for the media, who are always talking about the five euros that will become ten next year,” said Giovanni Di Vito, a Venice resident who has been active in campaigning against the tourist tax, “but no one is paying attention to the system that monitors and controls citizens.”
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This article has been corrected to say that about 438,000 visitors paid the levy.
This article has been generated from an automated news agency feed without any modifications to the text.
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