Venice plans to charge visitors for access and set entrance quotas from the summer of 2022, according to media reports.

Tourists who wish to visit this popular destination will be required to reserve access in advance from next year. Also, turnstiles will also be installed at the main access points of the historical city centre. The entry fee is reportedly set to be between 3 and 10 euros ($3.52 and $11.73), dependent on the season. The residents and their relatives, children under six and people staying in local hotels will be exempt from the measures. City councillor Marco Gasparinetti said it will turn Venice into a “theme park,” according to the newspaper, and proposes to restrict access only to particularly crowded areas, like San Marco square.

Lawmakers approved the package of restrictions last week, according to The Times newspaper. However, the measures originally intended to be launched in 2019, which was postponed due to the Covid-19 pandemic, Italian media reported.

Up to 80,000 people a day have recently been visiting the Italian city, The Times reported. At the height of the pandemic, tourism to Venice dried up, leading to the water in the city’s famous canals becoming noticeably clearer. The famous city has been struggling with over-tourism for several years, with large crowds causing congestion in the city’s narrow streets and creating traffic on its waterways.

In the summer of 2019, the MSC Opera cruise ship hit a Venetian dock and a tourist riverboat on June 2, injuring five people. Since the beginning of this month, large cruise ships have been banned from sailing into the centre of Venice. In 2017, around 2,000 residents protested against the impact tourism was having on their homes.

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