I live in slovenia (neighbouring country), and venice, to me, is just one of those cities, lost to tourism... the number of locals is slowly going towards zero, and basically all of the cities infrastructure is going towards tourism.
We have a few cities going that way too, eg Piran or Kranjska Gora, where it's impossible to live in (since housing prices are way too high due to airbnb investments), the restaurants are pretty much all the same, catering tourists, prices are expensive, and there are very few stores with stuff locals actually need. Charging people a few euros to enter would still mean cities overcrowded with tourism (but a bit more expensive now), and still unlivable for locals.
Sadly, the same is happening to the city center of Ljubljana, where everything is slowly turning towards the tourists, and coming to ljubljana is pretty much the same as coming to Prague, Bratislava, etc... a few unique landmarks, and generic touristy restaurants, boat rides and expensive made-in-china souvenirs. ...and too expensive housing for locals, hard to find a general food store, noise pollution, etc.