Are you planning a visit to Venice? Tourists will soon have to pre-book entry tickets

As many countries have started resuming international travel, tourism is also picking up pace. In light of this, the famed overcrowded tourist destination, Venice, is planning to introduce a booking system for all visitors and a new entry fee of up to €10 for day-trippers.

If reports are to go by, the main tourist hotspots in Venice, including Palazzo Ducale and Piazza San Marco, witnessed tons of visitors during the Easter weekend, and the said number inched closer toward pre-pandemic visitor numbers. This further led to straining its resources and clogging up the city’s streets. Reportedly, the tourist numbers recorded a peak of more than 1 lakh on April 16.

So, in order to tackle the crowds and keep locals happy, officials authorities have been looking for measures, including a new pre-booking system to keep a check on the number of people entering the city.
If all goes well, the scheme is all set to start from June, which will require people to book online before visiting. They will then get a QR code that will give them access through turnstiles at Venice’s main access points. Reports suggest that ticket prices will vary depending on the time they book tickets.

There will be electronic gates that will be backed up by around 500 cameras in the city centre to ensure stray and non-ticketed tourists get through. However, residents, students, and workers who travel to the city every day will be able to get through the gates, thanks to a ‘virtual key’ on their phones.