Italy’s competition watchdog said on Tuesday it had fined the firm handling tickets for Rome’s Colosseum and six tour operators “almost 20 million euros” for hoarding tickets – a practice which forced tourists to pay more for admission.
The investigation was launched in July 2023, after the AGCM watchdog discovered that buying tickets online for the ancient amphitheatre was “essentially impossible,” it said.
The Colosseum is Italy’s most visited monument, attracting more than 12.3 million visitors in 2023, according to Italy’s culture ministry.
Visitors had long complained of being unable to buy tickets for Rome’s Colosseum from the one and only official vendor, as big tour companies snapped them up weeks in advance and then repackage them as far more expensive guided tours.
CoopCulture, which managed the official ticket sale service for access to the Colosseum from 1997 until 2024, was fined seven million euros “for knowingly contributing to the substantial and prolonged unavailability of base-priced tickets for entry to the Colosseum,” the AGCM said.
READ ALSO: Italy investigates inflated prices for Colosseum tickets
The company not only “failed to take adequate steps to counter automated ticket hoarding”, but it also “kept a sizeable share of tickets for bundled sales tied to its own educational tours, which generated considerable profits”.
Tourists were “forced… to turn to tour operators and platforms that resold tickets bundled with additional services – such as guided tours, pickup or priority access – at much higher prices,” it added.
From the end of 2022 and in the first half of 2023, “tickets for entrance to the Colosseum sold out immediately after they were issued on the CoopCulture website, while they remained available on intermediary platforms,” Il Corriere della Sera newspaper reported back in 2023.
The watchdog also fined six tour operators who used automated tools to purchase tickets from CoopCulture until they ran out.
“By doing so, the operators benefitted from the constant unavailability of tickets, which left consumers seeking access to the Colosseum with no choice but to purchase them through these channels – often at much higher prices due to bundling with additional services,” it said.
The tour operators were named as Tiqets International BV, GetYourGuide Deutschland GmbH, Walks LLC, Italy With Family S.r.l., City Wonders Limited and Musement S.p.A.
Jeanice Stoval
Read More