How a small entry fee for Venice affects overtourism

HostWe have all seen those photos of Venice where you can barely see the ground because there are so many people packed onto the bridges. It feels like the city is bursting at the seams, so the local leaders tried something new by charging people just to walk in for the day. Does a five-euro ticket actually change anything, or is it just a drop in the bucket?

GuestWell, the city tried this out as a test run for twenty-nine days last spring and summer. They targeted day-trippers, which are the people who come in for a few hours but don't stay the night in a hotel. If you were coming in on a busy weekend or a holiday, you had to go online, get a QR code, and pay five euros. The idea was that a small fee might make people think twice about coming on the busiest days and maybe pick a quieter Tuesday instead. But when the numbers came in, they were a bit of a shock. On the days they charged the fee, the crowds were actually bigger than they were on the same days the year before. They ended up seeing over four hundred and fifty thousand people pay the fee during that short test period.

HostWait, so the crowds actually grew even though people had to pay to get in?

GuestYeah, it seems that way. The city brought in way more money than they thought they would, about two and a half million euros, but the lines at the train station didn't get any shorter. Part of the problem is that for someone traveling from another country, or even just another part of Italy, five euros isn't a lot of money. If you have already spent hundreds of dollars on a flight and a train ticket, an extra five bucks isn't going to make you cancel your trip. It's about the price of a fancy cup of coffee. It's just not a big enough hurdle to change how people behave.

HostIf it's too cheap to stop the crowds, why did they pick such a low number to begin with?

GuestThey were trying to walk a very fine line. They wanted to do something to help the city breathe, but they didn't want to make it feel like they were banning people from a public place. There's also a lot of pushback from the people who actually live in Venice. They hate the idea of their home having an entrance fee. To them, it feels like they're living in a theme park instead of a real city. When you have to show a code to get past a gate just to go buy bread, it changes how the place feels. They worry that once you start charging admission, you're admitting that the city is just a museum and not a living, breathing community.

HostBut surely that money could be used to help the city, like for picking up all the extra trash or fixing the walkways that get worn down by millions of feet?

GuestThat's the hope, but the locals will tell you that no amount of money can fix the fact that they're being priced out of their own homes. As more buildings turn into vacation rentals for those visitors, there's less room for regular people to live. The fee doesn't address the housing problem. It just adds a little bit of cash to the pile. Some critics say the fee actually makes things worse because it gives the city a reason to want more visitors. If every person who walks in is worth five euros, the city might start looking at crowds as a paycheck instead of a problem to solve.

HostSo if five euros didn't work, is the plan to just keep raising the price until people stay away?

GuestThat's exactly what they're looking at for next year. They're planning to double the fee to ten euros for people who don't book their spot ahead of time. They're also going to have more days where you have to pay. The hope is that the threat of a higher price will force people to plan their trips better. But there's a deeper issue here about who gets to see these beautiful places. If you keep raising the price, eventually only wealthy people will be able to visit. That creates a whole new kind of tension.

HostIf the money doesn't stop the crowds, why not just put a hard cap on the number of people allowed in and close the gates when it's full?

GuestThat's a very tough thing to do legally. Venice is a city, not a stadium. People have to go there for work, for school, or to see their doctors. Trying to figure out who's a tourist and who's just going to a meeting would be a nightmare. Plus, under European law, it's very hard to tell citizens they can't walk into a public city. So, for now, they're sticking with the fee because it's easier to manage, even if it doesn't quite solve the underlying crush of people. They're basically trying to use a price tag to manage a crowd that's far bigger than the city was ever built to hold.

GuestVenice is still trying to figure out if it can be a place where families go to school and shops sell more than just plastic masks, or if it'll slowly turn into a beautiful stage that you have to pay to walk across.

HostThose photos of the packed bridges might not change much if the price of a ticket is only about the same as a cup of coffee.