Her opposition to the idea limiting the number of tourists was expressed at the Anci assembly in Genoa. Councilor Zuin responded by specifying: “There will be no limited number… It’s a reservation, like you make to visit the Statue of Liberty”. The threshold will merely determine the entry price
By Mitia Chiarin
October 27, 2023
“I don’t particularly agree with a limited number for tourists: if the mayor of Venice wants to carry out a test, he will understand the evaluations. I believe that there is an underlying issue, that until now we have suffered tourism, but I believe that today tourism must be organized”. This was the comment of the Minister of Tourism, Daniela Santanché, on the sidelines of the 40th assembly of the National Association of Italian Municipalities in Genoa, regarding the introduction of a paid entry ticket and limited numbers for daily tourists in Venice starting in 2024.
“We must also provide alternative tourist offerings which are not just the cities of art, to help people discover the most hidden Italy of 5,600 villages, and we need to work on tourist offering. I honestly believe a restricted number for visitors is the simplest solution, but I don’t think it’s the best one”, the tourism minister reiterated.
The response from Michele Zuin, the budget councilor of the Brugnaro administration and the undisputed “architect” of the access ticket operation in the city, arrived immediately from the lagoon.
“I have a clear answer to the minister’s statements. In fact, it is not a question of a closed number in Venice. Because the city will always remain accessible to everyone, but with a reservation. The reservation will be free for Venetians while for non-Venetians it will be paid. The eventual threshold will be used beginning in 2025 to modulate the payment for access to the city”, stated the councilor, who did not intend, however, to get into any controversy with his former party colleague, now a member of Fratelli di Italia.
Regarding the need Santanché referred to in her words to govern the tourism phenomenon, Zuin replied: “We see reservations as the way to govern tourism. In New York you can make a reservation to visit the Statue of Liberty. Is that not what you do? You stand in line for five hours waiting to go. Did you make a reservation? Organize your visit in the best way. The concept of reservations serves precisely this purpose.”
Therefore, Zuin further specified, there will be no fixed number of visitors, recalling how this has been loudly requested by the center-left opposition, who have called for setting a ceiling for visitors in the historic city.
“We haven’t set a limit, but we allow a choice: if I tell you that on a certain date there will be a lot of crowds and it’s better if you don’t come, you, the visitor, are invited to decide to change the date of your visit. Do you absolutely want to come on that day? If so, then you will be asked to pay more.”
In short, in the philosophy that drives Zuin and the municipal council’s measure, the objective is not to limit visits to Venice from going beyond a certain number but rather to modulate, on the basis of a certain threshold that will be established when the measure is launched in 2024, the prices that visitors will be asked to pay, based on whether or not there are busy periods in the city. Given the criticism expressed by the minister, this philosophy of managing the overtourism phenomenon is not yet clear outside the lagoon.
-Source: La Nuova di Venezia e Mestre
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