Venice to charge tourist entry fee for short stays

[matthewb]

Ive just seen this Story on the BBC website. regarding Venice to charge tourist entry fee for short stays.

 

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-europe-46721456

 

 

[dogs4fun]

35 minutes ago, matthewb said:

Ive just seen this Story on the BBC website. regarding Venice to charge tourist entry fee for short stays.

 

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-europe-46721456

 

 

Interesting. I wonder if the fee will be added to your cruise account or hotel bill? I don't know how they could possibly identify daytrippers that arrive/depart via train.

[cruisemom42]

Interesting. I too am curious as to how they will actually do this -- but I don't disagree that something like this is needed. Venice is literally being 'loved to death' by tourists.

[thinfool]

Sounds like the always present "port fees and taxes".

[travelingman]

As some of you are aware Venice already charges a tax per person per night if you are staying over night in a hotel, BnB, etc.

 I would think any such tax would be charged to the cruise ship or train and then added to the ticket price by them.  Not sure how they are going to tax the folk that drive in by car.

 

[Langoustine]

16 hours ago, travelingman said:

Not sure how they are going to tax the folk that drive in by car.

 

They'll probably add the tax to the parking fee they charge at the garage at the end of the causeway.

[euro cruiser]

This falls into the "I'll believe it when I see it" category.  I agree that they need to do something but it seems that an idea like this is floated each time political leadership changes, but never gets implemented.

[steamboats]

So far they just changed the federal laws so Venice can go and make regulations about a fee. I just read in our local paper that they might apply it to cruise ship passengers and bus groups. There´s still a lot to work out.

 

steamboats

[kerryincork]

I thought I saw on the news during autumn that they had already installed turnstiles to try and control the numbers on the island, if this is true I should imagine you buy a ticket or card and charge it to that.

[Hlitner]

Folks might want to simply Google the definition of "Overtourism."  It is a real problem around the world, precipitated by day trippers and cruise ship passengers who do not contribute their fair share to local/regional economies.   Yes, like most here on CC we love to cruise.  And we have been doing it (extensively) for over forty years.  We have also seen how the cruise industry has changed (not for the better) many ports.  While we are now reading a lot about Venice (the tourist and cruise issues there have been debated for many years) the Italian government has created an even worse situation in the villages of Cinque Terre.  Opening up La Spezia to cruise ships is leading to the rapid destruction of everything good and charming in the 5 Villages :(.  Like many things in Italy, nothing effective will be done until it's too late (that may already be the case).  In the Caribbean, I am old enough to remember when St Thomas was a delightfully charming island.  But now, most of the charming shops/boutiques in Charlotte Amalie have been replaced by the usual Diamonds International, Royal Caribbean, Tanzanite International, and the other big stores/companies that have driven out the smaller (and much more interesting) local shops.  The traffic jams in Charlotte Amalie can now hold their own with traffic jams in large cities.   And what is to happen to  beloved St Maarten.  Can that island (once it rebuilds) handle 25,000+ cruise ship passengers without losing its charm?  Fortunately, there are at least a few Caribbean Islands that do their best to discourage cruise ship visits (St Barts and Anguilla quickly come to mind).   Folks take cruises to Alaska to experience the natural beauty and closeness to nature that one finds in that amazing State.  As they get off their large cruise ship what do they see?  Birds?  Other wildlife?  Charming villages?   No!  They see Diamonds International, Tanzanite International, etc.  And  I can assure you that these shops are not locally owned or operated...and in many cases, they simply import their labor/management for the season.   These blights on the landscape only exist because of cruise ships.  Yes, it is the American way.....but seeing a large DI store in remote Ketchikan or Skagway is not the memory I want of Alaska.  And what happens to these stores when the cruise ships leave in the fall?  They close for the season!

 

We just spent 21 days cruising the Caribbean where we stopped at numerous ports.  In most places, DW and I did not  even bother getting off the ship (except for a quick walk) because the most charming destination was on our ship...when it was nearly empty of passengers :).    In the past 5 years we have noticed that more and more cruise ship passengers do stay on the ship while visiting many Caribbean ports so our secret is obviously too well known.

 

Hank

[steamboats]

Hank,

 

Actually in Venice the number of cruise ship tourists is less than 10% of the total of tourists. So cruise ships add their share but are not the reason for overtourism in Venice.

 

I´d say it´s the same for Cinque Terre. Even with an Oasis class ship in port (and there´s only one berth plus a second ship can tender) you may have a total of 8,000 cruise ship passengers maybe more (with one Oasis class ship and a second one tendering). Especially from the Oasis class ship a certain amount - maybe 25% if not more - do go to Florence and Pisa. So lat´s say 6,000 want to see Cinque Terre... That´s not what is causing the overtourism.

 

It´s a completely different thing with ports where the main transportation for tourists are the cruise ships like the Caribbean islands or Alaska.

 

The reason why so many stay onboard in the Caribbean... I´d say it´s the same reason why I don´t leave the ship in Civitavecchia... (actually I go out but I stay in Civi instead of going to Rome in July or August)... Been there done that... The Med is my Caribbean so especially on the bigger ships which are limited to certain ports there´s sometimes no reason to leave the ship. And with the big ships the ship is the destination anyway.

 

steamboats

[slidergirl]

I'll just give my anecdotal data point:

 

I spent a week in Cinque Terre (based in Vernazza) back when Disney was in Europe and they were the only ones who did a port stop in La Spezia.  The day they were there, I could tell very easily that a ship had disgorged it's passengers and most ended up coming to CT.  This was far and over the number of daytrippers that we had every day.  It was rather unpleasant to have the walkway by our apartment totally wall-to-wall with people.  When they left, we could easily walk around, and at times, the villages seemed rather tame. 

 

Like I say, just my one data point.  

[navybankerteacher]

On 12/31/2018 at 5:44 PM, cruisemom42 said:

Interesting. I too am curious as to how they will actually do this -- but I don't disagree that something like this is needed. Venice is literally being 'loved to death' by tourists.

 

It is an approach overdue in some locations:  Santorini and Mykonos certainly are smothered on heavy days — and a number of Caribbean islands lose their character when too many ships are in.   The sad fact is that (on those heavy days)   the cruise passengers, being part of the human tsunami, get no feel for the essence of the places they inundate.

 

While fees might assuage some of the impact, perhaps flat  limitations are what is needed.