Venice backs €5 fee for day-trip tourists, set to hit travellers in 2024

Venice is set to charge day trippers looking to enter the historic city next year, in an effort to limit and manage crowds. Photo / Getty

Starting next year, travellers looking to visit the historic island city of Venice for a day trip will have to pay a five euro fee, following local backing of a citywide trial.

After years of consideration and a few false starts, Venice City Council have passed a measure to charge the many tourists who seek out a trip to the northeastern Italian city. The fee will be implemented in the spring of 2024 and aims to manage the crowds that flock to see the city. Authorities have committed to a 30-day “experiment”, which will play out over periods expected to be busiest (such as public holidays), rather than a full calendar month.

This move will make Venice the first city in the world to charge visitors for day trips.

Tourists roam the streets of the Rialto market. Photo / 123rf

“We must try to find some system to protect the city from mass tourism which on certain days of the year makes the city unlivable,” said Mayor Luigi Brugnaro in a statement. The mayor also pointed to other measures being utilised to manage overtourism, saying “This rule is one of the various actions implemented to combat over-tourism, such as the blocking of new hotels, restaurants and bars in the ancient city, the planning of public spaces, the rule for the regulation of valuable trade and, a short, a new regulation for tourist rentals.”

Budget councillor Michele Zuin added, “Venice remains accessible, open, but visitors, especially daily visitors, both national and international, must share the need for planning to best manage the balance between residentiality and tourism.”

Travellers over 14 years old looking to enter the old city, and see the famous lagoon, will be subject to the charge (though specific dates for the fee are yet to be revealed). The fee is likely to be payable through a digital outlet, utilising QR codes.

This decision comes after Unesco experts recommended that Venice should be added to the list of World Heritage sites in danger in late July.

In a report, Unesco said that the tourist-drawing city was suffering due to “mass tourism, development projects and climate change” with the potential to cause “irreversible” damage to the city.

Over the years, the city has faced challenges in the effort to protect the city from these influences. This includes banning certain cruise ships, installing MOSE seawalls to protect the city from surging waters and even installing temporary gates to control the flow of tourists.

The final decision for Venice’s inclusion on the danger list is expected to be revealed within the next week or so, as nations are currently meeting to discuss the matter, as well as other issues facing World Heritage sites, at Unesco’s World Heritage Convention in Saudi Arabia’s capital, Riyadh.