Venice’s admission fee for day-trip tourists will have a new wrinkle this year: anyone who signs up for a visit less than four days in advance will pay €10 rather than €5 to enter the city.
The system, which debuted last year, raised about €2.4 million on about a thousand admissions a day on the 29 days it was in effect, mostly holidays and weekends.
Simone Venturini, the city councillor in charge of tourism, told attendees at a tourism fair last week that “The aim remains the same: create a new system to manage tourist flow and disincentivise day tripper tourism in several periods, in line with the delicate and unique nature of the city, to guarantee the respect that it merits.” The fee isn’t charge to overnight visitors, who pay a tax through their lodgings.
Others exempt from the charge include residents, Venetian-born visitors, students and workers, as well as people transiting through the city’s rail stations without entering the city center.
This year’s dates are from April 18 to May 4 and then every Friday, Saturday and Sunday through the end of July for a total of 54 days. The fee is charged for visits between 8:30 am and 4 pm.
