Italian Watchdog Hits CoopCulture & Tour Operators with €20M Fine Over Colosseum Scandal

Key Takeaways

• AGCM Fines Issued: The Italian Competition Authority fined CoopCulture and six tour operators nearly €20 million for unfair ticketing practices at the Colosseum Archaeological Park.
• CoopCulture's Role: CoopCulture, which held the official ticketing concession until 2024, received a €7 million fine for enabling prolonged unavailability of standard-priced tickets and prioritizing its own bundled offerings.
• Bot-Driven Hoarding: Tour operators including Tiqets, GetYourGuide, Walks LLC, Italy With Family, City Wonders, and Musement were found to have used bots and automation tools to hoard tickets and resell them at inflated prices.
• Legal Violations: CoopCulture’s conduct was found to violate Article 20 of the Italian Consumer Code; the tour operators were found in breach of Articles 24, 25, and—after April 2, 2023—Article 23, paragraph 1, bb-bis).
• Consumer Impact: The practices left consumers with little to no access to standard tickets, forcing them to purchase through resellers that bundled tickets with premium services at significantly higher prices.

Deep Dive

For millions of tourists each year, a ticket to the Colosseum isn’t just entry to a historic site, it’s a passage to the ancient world. But for many, getting that ticket has felt like trying to win a lottery they didn’t even sign up for. Well, now we know why.

Italy’s Competition Authority (AGCM) has slammed CoopCulture, the longtime manager of Colosseum ticket sales, and six major tour operators with nearly €20 million in fines, citing a rigged system that left everyday travelers out in the cold while bots and bundled tours gobbled up the goods.

The Authority’s investigation, launched in July 2023, uncovered a web of practices that made scoring a standard-priced ticket online almost impossible. CoopCulture, which held the exclusive concession to manage ticketing for the Colosseum Archaeological Park from 1997 until 2024, wasn’t just asleep at the wheel, it was cashing in.

A Monopoly on the Gate

CoopCulture walked away with a €7 million penalty for what regulators called a “substantial and prolonged” unavailability of base-priced tickets. And it wasn’t just because of bot attacks. The company failed to put in place meaningful safeguards to block automated ticket hoarding—but it also reserved a hefty chunk of tickets for its own guided tours and packages, which it sold at a premium.

The result? Tourists hoping for a simple entry ticket were left staring at “sold out” notices while resellers pushed pricey alternatives with skip-the-line perks, guides, or transportation bundled in.

The AGCM found this to be an unfair commercial practice under Article 20 of the Consumer Code, effectively forcing consumers into the arms of resellers to access a publicly funded monument.

The Middlemen with Bots

As for the six tour operators (Tiqets International BV, GetYourGuide Deutschland GmbH, Walks LLC, Italy With Family S.r.l., City Wonders Limited, and Musement S.p.A.) they didn’t just benefit from the shortage. They helped create it.

According to the Authority, these companies used bots and other automation tools to snatch up tickets the moment they dropped on CoopCulture’s website. They then bundled them with add-ons and sold them at inflated prices. In doing so, they exploited the very scarcity they were helping to engineer.

Their actions were found to violate Articles 24 and 25 of the Consumer Code, and (since a legal update in April 2023) also breached Article 23, paragraph 1, bb-bis), which targets aggressive commercial tactics.

What started as a frustrating user experience turned out to be a systemic problem, and a lucrative one for those in control. For years, access to one of the world’s most treasured heritage sites was shaped less by demand than by who had the tech, the access, or the inside angle.

Tourism in Italy may be big business, but the rules of fair play still apply, even at the gates of the Colosseum.

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