Venice with a discount for those who book one month in advance
VENICE – Around the Empire State Building in New York there are always long lines of people waiting to visit it. To avoid the code is enough book and pay. Ditto for the Statue of Liberty and other city monuments. Venice, with years of delay, has decided to do the same but the reservation will be free: from last August 1st, anyone who wants to, just do it 30 days in advance, can reserve a place on public transport (Tpl), in four museums in the Marciana area and in the municipal garage in Piazzale Roma. All directly on the Venezia Unica website (veneziaunica.it) or, only for the four museums, also on the Civic Museums website (visitmuve.it): in exchange you will get a discount on tickets. The initiative has nothing to enjoy with the access contribution that will become operational from January 16, 2023 but is a sort of preview to teach visitors to Venice in a more responsible way and saving money, as well as queues at the ticket offices.
THE ADVANTAGES
“There is already a lot of interest also because in many cities around the world everything is booked and people who go around are used to it” says Michele Zuin, councilor for the budget of the Municipality of Venice: “This will be active until January 16, the date of entry in force of the access contribution, but we are already thinking of extending it and adding it to the contribution ». “Book early and save” is the slogan chosen to promote the initiative. The reservation in Venice, however, is different from that, for example, of the Empire State Building: you start from 44 to get directly to the 86th floor avoiding the queues, you go for 77 dollars to go up to the 102nd, but you can spend even a thousand dollars to celebrate a wedding. The reservation of the visit to the Ducal Palace, or the Correr, the Marciana and the Archaeological Museum, costs nothing and on the other hand, reserving the place 30 days before, is reduced to 5 euros on the ticket (from 35 to 30 euros); the same goes for public transport, as shown in the table we publish on the page (the fares are already available for transport to others that will be there from next September), and also in the municipal box for a stall in Piazzale Roma. «If visitors book in advance, discounts are enough and avoid queues at the ticket offices but at the same time the Municipality will also have important advantages: – continues Councilor Zuin -. With tourists arriving in the city already booked, it is easier to manage public transport, museums, the garage and better services can be offered. Furthermore, it goes without saying that better management of flows will create less inconvenience to residents ”. This is why the Municipality is thinking of combining the “Book early and save” with the access fee. Anyone who decides to visit Venice starting from January 16, 2023, will pay the access fee, from 3 to 10 euros depending on the season, events such as the Biennale and the number of people already present in the city and not staying overnight: if there is any too many will trigger the maximum rate.
EXEMPTIONS
Residents, people who work or study in the city, owners of houses in the historic center (both Italian and foreign) will be exempt from the contribution. And in the same way, the tourist tax that is not paid with the access fee is not paid cumulatively. Also exempt are those born in the Municipality (even if they reside elsewhere), children under 6 years, people with disabilities and their companion (one), those who must access health facilities, relatives and kin of residents up to the third degree, who participates in sports competitions and who assists them (for example fans); and, again, those who participate in trials or are summoned to public offices, all the passengers of the tourist buses who have paid for the Ztl bus and also those who only access piazzale Roma, Marittima and Tronchetto; it will not even pay the personnel of the police and armed forces in the city for service needs, all volunteers for service, public administrators and various authorities on institutional missions; finally, residents of the Metropolitan City and Veneto will be exempted, but book on the portal, because, if the maximum threshold of tourists present is exceeded, then they will have to pay the contribution.