Receiving around 5.7m visitors in 2023, it’s unsurprising that in Venice – a city with a population of around a quarter of a million people – some residents are tired of the constant stream of tourists. The permanent population of the historic centre is now below 50,000, down from 175,000 in the 1970s. This year, the canal city cracked down on tourism like no other destination.
Residents say mass tourism has turned it into an “amusement park” and describe it as “unliveable”, while Unesco has warned that overtourism and overdevelopment could see the location added to its World Heritage Site danger list.
As preventative measures, Venice’s authorities have banned large cruise ships from entering the historic centre via the Giudecca canal; limited tour groups to a maximum 25 people; and banned loudspeakers. A daytripper’s entry fee – the first of its kind – was also introduced this spring.
The €5 (about £4.19) charge for daytrippers arriving in peak periods has been deemed a “resounding failure” by some local officials, after it emerged that the fee seemed to be encouraging visitors rather than putting them off. In fact, this year, tourist numbers increased by some 5,000 every day in peak season.
Despite this, Mayor of Venice Luigi Brugnaro has decided to increase the number of days the fee will apply in 2025 following the “successful” trial.
How the entry fee will change in 2025
Next year, day-trippers who book ahead to visit Venice will still pay €5, increasing to €10 if booked less than four days in advance, or on the day.
However, the number of days on which the charge will apply will change – rising from 29 to 54, every Friday, Saturday and Sunday, as well as public holidays, between 18 April and 27 July.
The charge is applicable to all visitors over the age of 14. They need to download a QR code to show inspectors tasked with checking them at popular arrival areas, including the train station.
Those discovered not to have a ticket risk a fine of between €50 (£41) and €300 (£252). Venetian authorities will also continue its ban on large guided tour groups.
Mr Brugnaro has justified the increase by saying there are simply too many tourists. He believes the city needs to cut down on them all coming at once “to give Venice the respect it deserves”.
Watch your back – pickpocketing is still rife
“I followed her for about 15 seconds just calling her a pickpocket and saying, “scusi, scusi”, and then she just turned around, swiped me with her jacket and then stormed off glowering at me, but it was completely obvious what she was doing.”
So says travel writer Will Hide, who was recently targeted by a pickpocket in Venice.
Earlier this year, insurance company Quotezone reported that Italy is one of the worst countries for pickpockets, while data experts Statista found Venice had the fifth-highest rate of crime in the whole country.
National statistics show that reported crimes in Venice increased by almost 9 per cent last year, surpassing 2019 levels, so it will come as little surprise that visitors to the canal city often fall victim to petty theft.
While in Venice, despite taking precautions, Mr Hide was forced to carry his backpack on his back due to the busyness of the thoroughfare. Luckily, he caught the woman in the act on the packed street during his walk to the airport water bus, foiling her plan.
He says he felt inspired to confront her by Venice local Monica Poli, who has gone viral on social media for calling out thieves preying on unsuspecting tourists.
Despite countless tourists grateful to Monica for saving them from being robbed, she was attacked earlier this year by a group of thieves she had caught rifling through a tourists’ backpack in Venice’s Santa Lucia station, a hotspot for pickpockets.
She belongs to volunteer group Cittadini Non Distratti, “Undistracted Citizens”, which in 2019 was responsible for around a third of all recent pickpocket-related arrests in Venice. Since tourism has returned in full force to the city post-pandemic, the group says street crime has become worse than ever, especially with the increased numbers of visitors.
While it is easy to spot pickpockets, it can be hard to catch them as they are familiar with the narrow, criss-crossed streets and can escape with relative ease. Similarly, it is difficult to bring them to justice as many of the foreign victims are not able to return and give evidence in court.
With nearly one million US tourists, often perceived as rich, visiting every year – by far the largest group among international tourists – pickpocketing will not be likely to stop any time soon.
Whether or not it will put tourists off, though, is another matter.
Mr Hide admits that, with the incident fresh in his mind, “It has put me off Venice a bit actually” – but he’s not writing off a repeat visit when he has “more of a level head.
“In fact, I’m sure I will go back because it is an amazing place,” he told i.
Rip-off meals and ‘music’ charges
There have long been reports of sky-high prices and a two-tier cost system for locals and tourists.
Last year, a group of Spanish tourists in a cafe in St Mark’s Square was exasperated when they were charged €70 (£59) for a Guinness, two beers and a Coca-Cola which alone cost €16 (£13.50).
In 2018, four Japanese tourists were charged a staggering €1,143 (£962) for four steaks, a plate of mixed grilled fish, two glasses of wine and a bottle of water at a restaurant near the same touristy hotspot.
That same year, Caffe Lavena, also on St Mark’s Square, hit the headlines for charging one visitor €45 (£38) for just two bottles of water and two coffees.
While there are affordable options for food and drinks in the back streets of Venice, St Mark’s Square is famously expensive, even if you opt for the lowest priced item on a menu. That’s thanks, in part, to a “music” charge of at least €6 per person which everyone in the square must pay when there are live performances going on – whether they’re interested in listening to them or not. Where you choose to drink can have a direct impact on your wallet, too. It’s often half the price to drink an espresso standing at the bar of a cafe, as opposed to sipping your bevarage at a table.
Again, these horror stories don’t appear to be putting multitudes of tourists off visiting. Mr Hide told i that the city was packed at the end of October, outside the traditional peak season. Hoteliers he spoke to said there is barely any low season in Venice now: “Maybe a few weeks in January and February, when the carnival isn’t on”.
This post was originally published on here
