Venice Entry Fee for Tourists to Start in Spring 2024

The Venice government's decision to impose a 5 euro tax on foreign visitors planning to enter the city will be implemented from spring 2024, Venice Mayor Luigi Brugnaro has confirmed. Plans to impose such restrictions have been discussed since 2019 as part of efforts to reduce the number of tourists coming to the city each year. However, Brugnaro said this is not yet a permanent decision after the government committed to conducting a 30-day experiment. According to a CNN report, Venice authorities will choose the days they consider to be the busiest, such as weekends and peak festival times. The new regulations propose that all-day commuters aged 14 and over to the floating city will be subject to a €5 charge. However, certain exemptions will apply. Residents, commuters and those who own second homes in Venice and already pay local property taxes, including visitors staying overnight in the city and those attending sporting events, will not have right of entry. The fee was previously set at €10, but has been reduced to €5. The city's tourism councilor, Simone Venturini, through a statement, said that the changes were made after taking into account suggestions from residents and opposition councilors.

“Aware of the urgency to find a new balance between the rights of those who live, work and study in Venice, and those who visit the city, we are setting ourselves up as global frontrunners,” he noted through a statement.

By introducing these new changes, Venice will become the first city in the world to charge visitors during the day. Previously, Italian daily newspaper Il Gazzettino reported that the UNESCO World Heritage site had warned that it could put Venice on its list of places at risk of being affected by mass tourism and sea levels. rising due to climate change. The same source specified that Italian authorities were also criticized for their inability to protect the city and surrounding lagoon. Responding to these comments, the former mayor of Venice, Massimo Cacciari, considered UNESCO "one of the most expensive and useless organizations on the planet". Italy is one of the most popular tourist destinations in Europe. In August this year, the Italian Ministry of Tourism announced that Italy is the second destination for 2023 after 39% of accommodation is booked on online platforms, thus still ahead of France and Spain, with an increase a total of 14%.