“Tourism in Venice is starting again, and is a breath of fresh air for [tourism] operators,” Brugnaro tweeted, as crowds of tourists swarmed the canal city over the long weekend, peaking at 160,000 visitors on Saturday.
“Today, many have understood that the booking system is the right path to take for a more balanced management of tourism.
“We will be the first in the world [to introduce] this difficult experiment.”
The booking system will begin in June with a six-month pilot before potentially taking full effect in January next year.
From next year, Venice will also introduce an entry fee for day-tripper tourists arriving in the lagoon city.
The reservation system would require tourists to book online their visit to the city where, on arrival, they would enter via electronic turnstile gates at key access points, such as at the train station and St Mark’s Square.
Local residents will be exempt from the booking system, while people living in the surrounding Veneto region will be required to book but will be exempt from paying the fee.
The reservation website is set to be presented in the coming weeks, Corriere del Veneto reports.
The system will automatically register residents and tourists staying in hotel accommodation but other visitors will have to enter their information on the booking website, reports the Corriere.
Plans for an entrance fee to Venice have been in the pipeline since the measure was approved by the Italian government in late 2018 as a solution to mass tourism in a city which, before the COVID-19 pandemic, attracted an estimated 30 million people a year.
