Thursday was a special day in Venice. It was not only the feast day of the city’s patron saint, St Mark. It was also the first day of its notorious Access Fee.
This new measure, introduced by the Mayor, Luigi Brugnaro, requires all day-trippers to pay €5 simply for the privilege of being there – which makes La Serenissima the first city in history to charge tourists an entry fee.
If you’re staying the night, or longer, you don’t have to pay anything. But you do have to register online and apply for an exemption.
That’s why, on Thursday, the riot police were out in force at Piazzale Roma, Venice’s main bus terminal. They were lined up against the scores of protesters with their banners and slogans, all convinced that the Access Fee is a terrible idea.
It’ll do nothing for the residents, they argued.
Venice (pictured) has introduced a new measure that requires all day-trippers to pay €5 simply for the privilege of being there
As I watched, Brugnaro himself emerged from the throng, clad in a Barbour coat and accompanied by an entourage, walking with purposeful tread.
He was there to make sure his yellow-jacketed stewards were doing their job of encouraging people to use their phones to pay the fee online. Failing that, there are ticket machines you can use. Or you can pay the fee at a tabacchi.
Brugnaro’s cigar, which smouldered from his hand although it was only 10am, suggested a bullish confidence. ‘What will the money from the fee be used for?’ I asked.
He held my elbow and led me to the edge of the nearby canal. ‘Three weeks ago, that was covered in moss and weeds,’ he said. ‘We are constantly cleaning this to protect our beautiful city. But it costs money.’
Brugnaro recently compared himself to Marco Polo, on the grounds that he’s going where no man has been before. I asked him about this and he eyed me suspiciously.
In fairness to the Mayor, it’s thanks to him that this fee, which has long been mooted, is finally happening. Last year, he leapt into action after Unesco revealed it was thinking about putting Venice on its list of heritage sites in peril, not only because of rising sea levels flooding the canals, but because of the damage caused by overtourism.
Venice receives 25 million visitors every year. Of these, only about 30 per cent stay for a night or more. The other 70 per cent are day-trippers, school-trippers, interrailers and passengers from cruise ships who pour into the city and crowd St Mark’s Square.
The 70 per cent lot contributes just 30 per cent of tourist revenue while clogging the streets.
Above, workers prepare the tourist tax cashier desks outside the main train station in Venice
Meanwhile, residents are being priced out by hotels and Airbnb lets. In the 1950s, there were 175,000 people who lived full-time in Venice. Now there are just 50,000.
The Access Fee initiative has had teething troubles. The website you use to pay the fee is confusing.
Here’s a tip. To proceed, you have to download the 20-page privacy policy. Otherwise, you’re stuck.
It’s not clear that a charge of €5 is likely to dissuade even cash-strapped backpackers from entering Venice.
In St Mark’s Square, I grabbed a table outside a cafe and ordered a small bottle of beer. It set me back €16.
When you’re paying this much for a beer, another €5 isn’t a big deal.
Nearby, I noticed a group of men waving Venetian flags: scarlet with the golden lion of St Mark.
They were separatist demonstrators for Nazione Veneta, who believe that Venice should be an independent nation, like hundreds of years ago, when it was one of the great powers in Europe.
When I mentioned the Access Fee, one of them said: ‘Don’t pay it. It’s daylight robbery.’
People with banners protest against the introduction of the Access Fee in Venice
The new Access Fee only applies on certain days for a trial period between now and the end of July. It’s every day from April 25 to May 5, then just at weekends. Mayor Brugnaro has emphasised that this is all an experiment.
Meanwhile, the authorities in other cities across the world are paying close attention.
If the Access Fee works in Venice, perhaps we can soon expect to be charged to enjoy the sights of Paris or Tokyo. Equally, though, maybe we won’t.
As the Mayor of Florence, Dario Nardella, has pointed out, because Venice is built on water, it only has a small number of entry points. That makes it easy to catch visitors on arrival, when they turn up at the bus or railway stations or the main vaporetto stops.
Overtourism will not be easy to resolve.
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