Venice entry fee a failure says councillor

(ANSA) - ROME, MAY 20 - Venice's entry fee, the first by any city in the world, has already been a failure since its introduction on the LIberation and St Mark's Day holiday on April 25, a city councillor told a press conference at the foreign press club in Rome Monday.
    "The entry ticket measure in Venice has failed miserably because the numbers count and they say that the ticket has in no way lowered the flow of tourists or staggered the arrivals, but instead the arrivals are numerically superior with respect to previous years," said Giovanni Andrea Martini of the city council group All The City Together.
    "There were 70,000 entries just yesterday May 19, while on April 23 last year they were 66,000 and on June 2, 2023, the Italy Day Holiday, the entries were 65,000," he said at Palazzo Grazioli, the former Berlusconi residence in the Italian capital.
    "Today the city is closed due to the political will of an administration who with this measure have brought in a little money but have not saved the soul of the city," he said.
    "Venice is rundown because it has been abandoned, or rather merely used to bring in cash".
    Venice has been trialling the 5-euro fee for day trippers to get in since April 25 and will continue to do so until the end of July. (ANSA).