After ~9 years in California, I moved from San Francisco to Venice, Italy (Venezia) in late 2020. (I am originally from Italy).
Venice is an amazing city, and it's not as expensive as people think, if you plan to stay long term.
When the Covid-19 situation got better in early 2022, TONS of tourists came back, and Venice is now more crowded than it was before the pandemic.
Residents (of the historical city center, or the "main" Venice), down to a total of about 50,000 (from a peak of ~175,000 [0]), are really angry at the overcrowding and are looking for solutions.
In certain weekends this year, the number of visitors reached 130,000 per day, which is about twice as much as the city can support without deterioration of city life and services.
Entry tickets, if handled properly, could be a great way to fix the issue.
The current solution has some flaws, and I don't believe that it will solve the issue properly. (overnight visitors don't pay; ferry rides are not integrated in the ticket; etc).
I believe that the right structure should include a combination of:
1) expensive tickets (€50 per day per person) that allow you to come regardless of any other limitation.
2) advance purchase tickets (€5 per day per person)
3) progressive tickets (starting at €5 per day per person, but going as high as €25 when the number of visitors in a given day approaches 60,000).
Also, the parking system (Tronchetto and Piazzale Roma), owned by private companies, should introduce a similar progressive ticket, but the extra income should go to the municipality, not to the private company.
The extra money earned this way should go towards improving the logistics of the city, easing the pressure that tourism puts on the residents.
My 0.02.
[0]: https://allaboutvenice.com/venice-population/
Venice is an amazing city, and it's not as expensive as people think, if you plan to stay long term.
When the Covid-19 situation got better in early 2022, TONS of tourists came back, and Venice is now more crowded than it was before the pandemic.
Residents (of the historical city center, or the "main" Venice), down to a total of about 50,000 (from a peak of ~175,000 [0]), are really angry at the overcrowding and are looking for solutions.
In certain weekends this year, the number of visitors reached 130,000 per day, which is about twice as much as the city can support without deterioration of city life and services.
Entry tickets, if handled properly, could be a great way to fix the issue.
The current solution has some flaws, and I don't believe that it will solve the issue properly. (overnight visitors don't pay; ferry rides are not integrated in the ticket; etc).
I believe that the right structure should include a combination of:
1) expensive tickets (€50 per day per person) that allow you to come regardless of any other limitation.
2) advance purchase tickets (€5 per day per person)
3) progressive tickets (starting at €5 per day per person, but going as high as €25 when the number of visitors in a given day approaches 60,000).
Also, the parking system (Tronchetto and Piazzale Roma), owned by private companies, should introduce a similar progressive ticket, but the extra income should go to the municipality, not to the private company.
The extra money earned this way should go towards improving the logistics of the city, easing the pressure that tourism puts on the residents.
My 0.02.
[0]: https://allaboutvenice.com/venice-population/