5 euro fee to visit Venice from today

Tourists will have to pay a €5 fee to visit Venice from today under a pilot program being launched by authorities in the Italian canal city.

KEY FACTS

• The fee will affect day-trippers. With it, the authorities hope to reduce the flow of visitors during peak hours and days and make Venice a more attractive city to live in amid demographic problems.
• The program is a test. It will run for 29 days – initially until May 5, and then on almost every weekend until mid-July.
• The fee is completely mandatory and violators will be fined between 50 and 300 euros. The requirement only applies to people arriving between 8:30 and 16:00. Outside these hours, access is free.
• Residents of the Veneto region, those working and studying in Venice, local residents and tourists who have booked overnight stays are excluded from the mandatory fee. Children under the age of 14 are also an exception.
• In some cases, a voucher exception will also be allowed.

CONTRA

The measure was not met unequivocally. In addition to criticism, the local administration is also facing protests against the tax, which comes into effect today. According to critics, the introduction of a ticket to enter a city will not reduce even one unit the number of visitors who come

WHAT TO WATCH FOR

By the end of the year, a decision is expected to be made whether the pilot program has yielded results and will be extended. Not all residents are convinced that the program will yield results. According to the locals, more attention should be paid to demographic policies.

KEY STORY

Venice has long suffered from excessive tourist pressure. Mass tourism creates many problems for the local population, leading to huge traffic jams and overcrowded water taxis. According to estimates, Venice was visited by over 10 million people last year. Before the COVID-19 pandemic, visitors were between 25-30 million per year.

Last year, the number of tourist beds for the first time exceeded the number of official residents, who are currently under 50,000 in the historic center of Venice.

Venice announced it would introduce a long-debated day-trip fee last year after the city narrowly avoided being added to the UN agency’s list of endangered cultural heritage sites