At the beginning of summer 2022, We are here Venice was interviewed by The Telegraph Rome correspondent Nick Squires and by Vanity Fair Italia’s correspondent Paola Manfredi on the planned charging system to enter the lagoon city.
From The Telegraph, 01.07.2022:
Some Venetians believe the system should go a step further and impose a maximum number of visitors who can enter the lagoon city. Moreover, WahV Executive Director Jane da Mosto, thinks the number of tourists should be set at around 50,000 – the same as the number of inhabitants, while she is doubtful that the booking system will make any difference to the problems of over-tourism.
Having a ticketing system is meaningless unless there is an explicit cap on the number of visitors allowed into Venice at any one time. I don’t think that would necessarily imply that Venice is becoming like Disneyland. When you buy tickets to the cinema or to a theme park, they stop selling tickets when the number of people that can be safely and comfortably accommodated is reached. Additionally, the number of tourists should mirror the number of residents to assure people a more authentic experience. I’m concerned that a ticketing system will potentially worsen people’s behaviour. People might think, ‘I’ve paid 10 euros to come here, but there are no bins, so I’ll just throw my litter on the ground.‘
Read the full article on The Telegraph.
From Vanity Fair Italia, 01.07.2022:
When posed with the question “Do you mean that Venice has the tourism it deserves?”, Executive Director Jane da Mosto expressed a widespread sentiment among the city’s residents: “I would not speak of merit but yes, the tourism that Venice receives and suffers today is determined by the unregulated supply: the city offers more and more junk stores, an unlimited amount of take-out food stores, big sporadic events that last only a few days. What kind of tourism attracts all this if not ‘hit and run’?”
Finally, the article poses the question in reverse, asking the director how the city of Venice would sustain itself economically with fewer tourists.
Venice with fewer tourists could find space for more residents, and residents have a more stable and richer footprint on the local economy than a hit-and-run tourist. A resident needs services of all kinds. Venice is now on the verge of disappearing with the decline in residents over the past few years. Instead, great possibilities could be created. I’ll give you just an example, the arsenal area is dreaming of becoming a manufacturing area, it could host laboratories for study and innovation, or training, and it could host maintenance spaces for boats and yachts. With a living city, tourism would complement daily life and would not conflict with citizens. The problem now is that we are one against the other.
Read the full article on Vanity Fair Italia.
Picture by Anna Zemella