Venice has concluded its trial of a five-euro (roughly £4) entrance fee for day-trippers during peak days, a move criticised by opponents who deemed the experiment unsuccessful.
The Italian city, a UNESCO World Heritage Site, implemented the fee in April to manage tourist influx during high-traffic periods. The initiative aimed to reduce overcrowding but faced backlash.
On Saturday, dozens of activists gathered outside the Santa Lucia train station, protesting the fee. They argued it failed to deter visitors on peak days.
“The ticket is a failure, as demonstrated by city data,” said Giovanni Andrea Martini, an opposition city council member.
Over the first 11 days of the trial, an average of 75,000 visitors were recorded daily – 10,000 more than during similar holidays in 2023, according to cellphone data tracking city arrivals.
City councillor Simone Venturini, responsible for tourism and social cohesion, claimed the program’s initial assessment was positive and confirmed its renewal in 2025, despite acknowledging persistent crowding.
“On some weekends there were less people than the same time last year… but no one expected that all the day trippers would miraculously disappear,” Venturini told Reuters. “It will be more effective in the coming years when we increase the number of days and lift the price.”
He hinted at increasing the fee and the number of chargeable days in the future, with discussions underway to possibly double the fee to 10 euros (£8.60) next year.
Over the past two and a half months, nearly 438,000 tourists paid the entrance tax, generating about 2.19 million euros (nearly £1.9 million), according to The Associated Press. The levy did not apply to hotel guests, who already pay a lodging tax, and included exemptions for children under 14, regional residents, students, workers, and people visiting relatives.
The revenue from the fee is intended for essential services in Venice, such as rubbish removal and maintenance, which are costlier in a city with canals.
However, opponents advocate for policies encouraging the repopulation of Venice’s historic centre, which has seen countless residents, exasperated by the overwhelm of tourists, move to the quieter mainland. They suggest placing limits on short-term rentals.
“Raising the fee to 10 euros is absolutely useless. It makes Venice a museum,” Martini argued.
Giovanni Di Vito, a Venice resident opposed to the tourist tax, said: “The access ticket is a great distraction for the media, which only speaks about this five euros, which will become 10 euros next year. But no one is focusing on the system for surveillance and control of citizens.”
Martini proposed a free booking system for visitor slots to prevent lower-income families from being excluded while tracking tourist arrivals.
“We need to warn people that if they come on certain days, they are not going to have a good time,” he said.
