Venice managed to remain outside of the list of endangered heritage sites of UNESCO.
Recommendations to include the Italian city on this list have been ignored by members of UNESCO during the meeting held in Saudi Arabia last week.
They especially touted Venice’s long-awaited plans to charge an entrance fee for day trippers next year.
Great victory at UNESCO!!… Venice is not at risk “The world has understood all the work we have done to defend our city, but some of the opposition in Venice still hasn’t.
He called the earlier report recommending the floating city to be endangered “misleading”.
The Italian city has been on UNESCO’s watchlist for an extended period and successfully prevented a similar outcome in 2021. UNESCO intended to add the Italian city to the list of endangered sites as a result of the damages caused by the high volume of tourists.
Besides, UNESCO expressed dissatisfaction with the progress that this city made in this regard.
Venice banned large cruise ships from passing through its canals, while it also unfolded plans to introduce its day trip tax, however, its implementation was postponed from 2024.
Once it becomes effective, visitors will be required to pay a €5 fee for travelling to this city, the Mayor of Venice, Luigi Brugnaro, has confirmed.
Plans to impose these kinds of restrictions have been discussed since 2019 and came as part of efforts to reduce the increased number of tourists that decide to visit this city every year. Still, Brugnaro emphasised that the move is not permanent after authorities in Venice have committed to a 30-day experiment.
Based on the new regulations, day trippers aged 14 and more would have to pay a fee upon their arrival.
Recently, the UNESCO World Heritage Committee added sites in the cities of Kyiv and Lviv in Ukraine to the list of heritage sites in danger. The two sites, -Kyiv’s Saint Sophia Cathedral and the historic centre of L’viv, join the Ukrainian city of Odessa, which earlier this year was placed on this list.
UNESCO presented the List of World Heritage in Danger, which, at present, consists of 55 world sites, of them 21 in Africa, 21 in Asia, four in Europe, seven in Northern and Southern America, as well as two located in Oceania.
Europe is the second continent with the most significant number of places considered as World Heritage Sites, or 171. At present, the following ones are considered in danger: the Historic Center of Vienna, Austria; the Historic Center of Odesa, Ukraine, Saint-Sophia Cathedral and Related Monastic Buildings, Lviv, the Ensemble of the Historic Center, Ukraine, Medieval Monuments, Kosovo, Rosia Montana Mining Landscape, Romania.
