Venice to Charge Entry Fee for Day-Trippers Starting April 2024

Venice, Italy will begin charging a 5-euro entry fee for day-trippers starting on April 23, 2024, in a groundbreaking move to manage the overwhelming influx of tourists in the historic city. The fee will initially be required on 29 busy days in 2024, mostly on weekends from May to July, with the goal of persuading visitors to come during quieter periods.

Venice, a UNESCO World Heritage site, has been dealing with the impact of mass tourism for years. In 2022, the city hosted over 3.2 million overnight visitors, vastly outnumbering its resident population of just 50,000. Tens of thousands of additional day-trippers flood the city daily, putting immense strain on Venice's infrastructure, ecosystem, and historical sites.

Why this matters: Venice's pioneering tourist tax is being closely watched as a potential model for other destinations worldwide that are struggling with the challenges of overtourism. The measure aims to promote a more sustainable form of tourism that balances the economic benefits with the preservation of Venice's unique heritage and environment.

The new ticketing system, dubbed the "Venice Access Fee," will be implemented with "very soft controls" and without queues, according to city officials. Controllers will be stationed at the main entry points to the city to perform spot checks. Tourists found without a valid ticket could face fines ranging from 50 to 300 euros.

Several categories of visitors will be exempt from the fee, including residents, children under 14, and people with disabilities. Tourists staying overnight in accommodation within the Venice lagoon will also be exempt, as they already pay a city tax on their lodgings.

Venice's mayor, Luigi Brugnaro, has described the new system as an "experiment" to make the city more livable. "We are pioneers, the first city in the world to apply a measure that could be revolutionary," Brugnaro said. The mayor emphasized that the goal is not to "close the city," but to manage tourist flows more effectively.

The introduction of the entry fee comes after Venice had already taken other measures to address the impact of mass tourism, such as banning large cruise ships from the city center in 2021 and introducing a tax on overnight stays. UNESCO had previously threatened to put Venice on its list of endangered heritage sites due to the combined pressures of overtourism and climate change.

While the tourist tax has faced some criticism, with details on how the revenue will be spent not immediately available, city officials maintain that the measure is necessary to ensure Venice's sustainability. The effectiveness of the new system will be closely monitored, with adjustments made as needed based on the results of the initial implementation period in 2024.

Key Takeaways

• Venice to charge 5-euro entry fee for day-trippers starting April 2024.
• Measure aims to manage overwhelming influx of tourists in the historic city.
• Fee to be required on 29 busy days in 2024, mostly on weekends.
• Venice's tourist tax seen as a potential model for other destinations.
• Several categories of visitors will be exempt, including residents and children.