Venice extends its day-tripper tax through next year to combat overtourism

ROME (AP) — Venice will extend its day-tripper tax through next year, increasing the number of days on which tourists have to pay to enter the city and doubling the fee to 10 euros ($10.80) for last-minute visitors, city officials said on Thursday.

Mayor Luigi Brugnaro stressed that the tax aims to help the city and its citizens battle overtourism and avoid huge influxes of visitors during crowded holidays and weekends.

The new tax will be applied every Friday through Sunday and on holidays from April 18-July 27 of next year, for a total of 54 days. That's almost double the number of days it was applied this year. Tourists who don't make reservations up to four days in advance will pay 10 euros ($10.80) instead of the usual 5 euros ($5.40).

The tax will be in force during peak hours, from 8.30 a.m. to 4 p.m. Exemptions are granted to residents, Venetian-born visitors, students and workers, as well as tourists who have hotel or other lodging reservations.

At the end of the first test phase, last July, officials said the tax had netted 2.4 million euros ($2.6 million), accounting for about 1,000 entrances on each of the test days.

Brugnaro on Thursday again responded to critics who have called it a failure and said it did not deter as many arrivals as expected.

“Venice is the first city in the world that tries to manage the problem of overtourism. We obtained important results,” the mayor said.

But some citizens' groups and opposition councilors claim the access fee completely failed to control overtourism.

“Data offered by the control room show that on average during the period of implementation of the fee, we had about 7,000 more tourist entries than in previous years," said Giovanni Andrea Martini, an opposition councilor. “This shows that the access fee is not at all a system able to manage the flows.”

The world-famous lagoon city has long grappled with overwhelming influxes of tourists, with estimates based on cellphone data of 25 million to 30 million annual arrivals of day-trippers and overnight guests since 2020. The city's population is only about 50,000, according to the mayor.

The day-tripper tax, which was delayed by the pandemic, was heralded by UNESCO member states when they decided against recommending to place the city on a list of endangered world heritage sites. The city also escaped inclusion on the list two years earlier when it imposed a cruise ship ban down the Giudecca canal and through St. Mark’s Basin.