Rome’s Colosseum introduces named tickets to combat touts
Italy’s biggest tourist attraction will from Wednesday bring in a new system to prevent resellers from snapping up all the official tickets online, the culture ministry said.
Named tickets may be more common at major sporting events, but from Wednesday, October 18th, you won’t be able to visit Rome’s Colosseum without one.
“From October 18th, named tickets will be introduced for all ticket types,” Italy's culture ministry announced in a statement on Monday.
It said the move was intended to “combat the phenomenon of touting and other speculative practices on entrance fees to the archaeological park."
Visitors will from Wednesday need to present ID with their ticket on arrival at the Colosseum “as happens at football matches", according to reports in newspaper La Repubblica.
EXPLAINED: How to get tickets for Rome’s Colosseum under new rules
The new requirement is one of several changes being made by the attraction’s management aimed at stopping resellers from snapping up official tickets online using automatic software and reselling them at inflated prices.
Italy's competition watchdog in July launched an investigation into claims Colosseum tickets were being bought in bulk by bots and resold on other websites at several times the official price, often as part of packages including "skip the line" tours.
The watchdog was investigating the official vendor Società Cooperativa Culture (CoopCulture), as well as the websites Musement, GetYourGuide, Tiqets and Viator over the claims, following complaints from visitors who found official tickets were not available to purchase.
READ ALSO: Italy investigates inflated prices for Colosseum tickets
Tickets will now be sold via the official website www.colosseo.it, and “a new ticket office will be opened in addition to the existing one and the number of tickets sold on site will be doubled,” the culture ministry stated.
Italy’s biggest tourist attraction, the Colosseum receives millions of visitors each year.
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Named tickets may be more common at major sporting events, but from Wednesday, October 18th, you won’t be able to visit Rome’s Colosseum without one.
“From October 18th, named tickets will be introduced for all ticket types,” Italy's culture ministry announced in a statement on Monday.
It said the move was intended to “combat the phenomenon of touting and other speculative practices on entrance fees to the archaeological park."
Visitors will from Wednesday need to present ID with their ticket on arrival at the Colosseum “as happens at football matches", according to reports in newspaper La Repubblica.
EXPLAINED: How to get tickets for Rome’s Colosseum under new rules
The new requirement is one of several changes being made by the attraction’s management aimed at stopping resellers from snapping up official tickets online using automatic software and reselling them at inflated prices.
Italy's competition watchdog in July launched an investigation into claims Colosseum tickets were being bought in bulk by bots and resold on other websites at several times the official price, often as part of packages including "skip the line" tours.
The watchdog was investigating the official vendor Società Cooperativa Culture (CoopCulture), as well as the websites Musement, GetYourGuide, Tiqets and Viator over the claims, following complaints from visitors who found official tickets were not available to purchase.
READ ALSO: Italy investigates inflated prices for Colosseum tickets
Tickets will now be sold via the official website www.colosseo.it, and “a new ticket office will be opened in addition to the existing one and the number of tickets sold on site will be doubled,” the culture ministry stated.
Italy’s biggest tourist attraction, the Colosseum receives millions of visitors each year.
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