Venice mayor Simone Venturini has proposed raising the city’s tourist entrance fee for day-trippers ‘on particularly busy days’.  

Venice introduced its trial day-tripper tax for 29 days in 2024, with visitors paying €5 (£3.46) fee to enter the city at weekends and holiday dates between 25 April and mid-July. 

The fee was re-inroduced last year to cover more days (54) and doubled to €10 for visitors who bought their entrance tickets within three days of arrival. This year, the fee will apply to a total of 60 dates, from 3 April to 26 July.

Now Simone, who was elected last month, has proposed increasing the tourist tax to €30 (£25.98) for advance purchases and €50 (£43.30)for last-minute day-trippers on certain days, in an effort to ease overcrowding in the city.

Simone told Travel Gossip: “Venice is preparing a proposal to put before the Italian government and parliament that would allow the city to raise its access fee for day-trippers on particularly busy days, once certain booking thresholds have been reached. The measure is intended to make the charge a stronger deterrent during periods of peak tourist pressure, especially as visitor numbers are expected to rise further in the coming decades.

“The fee applies to visitors who enter the city for the day and do not stay overnight: a category that places significant strain on Venice, generating additional costs for cleaning, transport and public safety services, while contributing less to the local economy than overnight guests.

“At present, the access fee is the only practical instrument Venice City Hall has to manage daily visitor flows. The city is therefore looking at ways to make it more effective on the busiest days, while seeking a better balance between the needs of residents, workers and tourists. Revenue from the scheme is used to help fund public services and support the upkeep and protection of Venice: a fragile city built on water, where maintenance costs exceed €100 million each year”.

In its first year, the fee raised more than €2.4 million for the city.