Annoying tourists to “eat and flee”, Venice brings back its entrance fees

The first Venetians fought against seawater waves around them by building stone maritime walls and adapting their lagoon to meet their needs.

Now, the Venetians are fighting against the waves of what civil servants call tourists “to eat and flee”, who join the city’s monuments with crowded lunches, throw their garbage and leave without spending a lot of money in Venice.

Day Trippers will have to start paying entry fees to visit the city from Friday, a controversial tax intended to dissuade people from going during peak periods.

This year, city officials almost doubled the number of days during which the costs will be applied, up to 54 days. (It was applied for 30 days last year.) And a new wrinkle will be unorganized: visitors waiting for the last minute to obtain their entry permits will pay 10 euros instead of five.

The entry fees were introduced last year to reduce what city officials call “movi e fuggi” tourism, or “eat and flee”, referring to visitors who fuck places like the Rialto bridge and Saint-Marc square for brief visits that do not benefit the local economy, or not at all.

The costs were a good tool to “explain to the world that Venice is unique and fragile and that tourism in Venice must be more respectful,” said Simone Venturini, Venice city councilor in charge of tourism, in an interview.