Entry fee may not be enough to save Venice

Click HERE

the charge means Venice has become “a theme park, a Disneyland”, where “you get in by paying an entrance fee”.

Bhutan’s (recently reduced) “sustainable development fee” of US$100 (S$137) per night, which applies to all tourists, and was introduced to encourage “high value, low impact” tourism.

Venice is the embodiment of overtourism, and residents clearly suffer from the consequences – living with the congestion, environmental damage and effects on their lifestyle and culture that 20 million visitors can cause. This can then lead to a negative response, known as “tourismphobia”. Another term, “Venice syndrome” has been used to describe the decline of the city’s permanent population, as citizens feel forced to leave.

Qn: ‘Tourism today is nothing but exploitation.’ Do you agree? (CJC Prelim 2023)