Milan, 8 Apr. (LaPresse) – The Italian Antitrust Authority has imposed sanctions of almost 20 million euros on the Società Cooperativa Culture (CoopCulture) and the tour operators Tiqets International BV, GetYourGuide Deutschland GmbH, Walks LLC, Italy With Family S.r.l., City Wonders Limited and Musement S.p.A. This was communicated in a statement from the Antitrust Authority. The investigation was launched in July 2023 after the Antitrust Authority had collected various pieces of information that highlighted the substantial impossibility of purchasing tickets online for admission to the Parco Archeologico del Colosseo. The Authority imposed an administrative fine of 7 million euros on CoopCulture, which managed the official ticket sales service for the Colosseum from 1997 to 2024, an administrative fine of 7 million euros, because it had knowingly contributed to the serious and prolonged unavailability of basic priced tickets for the Colosseum, the note emphasises. Specifically, CoopCulture, on the one hand, did not take adequate measures to prevent the automated purchase of tickets; on the other hand, it reserved a significant number of tickets to be sold together with its educational visits, from which it derived considerable economic benefits. It would thus have forced consumers to turn to tour operators and platforms that resold tickets combined with additional services (e.g. tourist guide, pick-up, skip the line) and at considerably higher prices. As part of the same proceedings, the Authority also imposed fines on the aforementioned six tour operators, who purchased tickets with bots or other automated tools, contributing to the phenomenon of the rapid sell-out of tickets at the basic price on the website of the authorised seller CoopCulture. In doing so, these operators took advantage of the systematic unavailability of tickets, which forced consumers who wanted to visit the Colosseum to find them in this way at much higher prices because they were combined with additional services offered by them or by other tour operators.
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