Going, going… gondola! Tourists get dumped into Venice canal after they refused to sit down and stop taking selfies… and the boat capsizes
A group of tourists were dumped in one of Venice's famous canals after they ignored advice to stop taking selfies and sit on a wobbly gondola.
Footage of the aftermath showed several travelers reconsidering their choices as they floated in the water next to a capsized tour boat.
The group was shuffling around the ship and posing for photos in front of famous landmarks before the gondolier had to tell them to sit down and remain quiet as they made a careful maneuver under a bridge near St. Mark's Square.
But when they ignored him and continued on, the boat rolled over, leaving the entire group in the drink, local media reported.
Videos shared on TikTok showed the tourists clinging to the upturned boat and trying to pull themselves into another passing boat.
The tourists were pictured in the canal after falling from the boat as it passed a bridge
The tourists were reportedly told to remain still and sit down to keep the boat stable
Some clung to another passing boat after falling into the canal near St. Mark's Square
After the boat capsized, the gondolier jumped into the icy canal to get his passengers to safety.
The Venezia Non è Disneyland (Venice is not Disneyland) page on Instagram, which shares tourist activities in the city, said the group escaped safely and received “hospitality and warmth” at the nearby La Fenice theater.
The page aims to document the “inappropriate” behavior of the 20 million annual visitors to Venice, a divided city that has struggled with overtourism for years.
In a 2021 interviewthe page's founders regularly described problems from tourists swimming in the canals, which they warned was 'unsafe and dirty, so not ideal for hygienic reasons'.
'We are thrilled that many people want to see Venice and we think it is such a beautiful city that everyone should see it. But we really think travelers in Venice should get off the beaten track much more,” they said.
In 2022, the mayor of Venice raised similar concerns and shared a video of two brazen tourists riding motorized surfboards through the Grand Canal.
Mayor Luigi Brugnaro called them “imbeciles” who ridiculed Venice in a post and called on citizens to help identify and find the surfers.
He offered a free dinner to anyone who could help bring them to justice.
“Venice is NOT Disneyland,” he captioned a video of the couple passing under an arch bridge.
The Australian tourists were eventually arrested and each fined 1,500 euros, according to La Nuova di Venezia e Mestre.
The mayor said he wanted to see them prosecuted for tarnishing the city's image.
Venice will now become the first city in the world to charge day trippers an entrance fee in a determined bid to curb mass tourism, its tourism chief announced in September.
From 2024, the city will introduce a €5 fee for passing tourists, although hotel and Airbnb guests will not be affected by the measure, Simone Venturini said.
The fee will be trialled for 30 days next year, with a focus on spring holidays and summer weekends, when tourist numbers are at their peak.
From above a capsized gondola around which tourists still swim in Venice
The plan aims to “find a new balance between the rights of those who live, study or work in Venice and those who visit the city,” said Simone Venturini, head of tourism.
It is a response to growing opposition to the influx of day trip vacationers and large cruise ships flooding the city.
But critics say the fee misses the point and ignores the more fundamental issue of short-stay Airbnb rentals, keeping rents high and deterring permanent residents.
Matteo Secchi, president of the Venice Citizens' Action Group, said the new fee would effectively turn the city into 'Disneyland'.
“By charging visitors to enter, Venice becomes a museum or a theme park rather than a city where people live, go to the supermarket and drop off their children at school,” he said.
Plans to introduce fees for day trippers were originally mooted in 2019 but postponed due to the pandemic.
Last year, Venice finally made plans to charge tourists €10 to enter the city all year round, but ultimately scrapped the policy, with Venturini citing 'resistance'.
A spokesperson for Mayor Luigi Brugnaro said at the end of last year that the plans had been delayed because the city council had not yet fully approved a new admission process.
Technical and procedural problems were expected to delay the scheme by six months.