Tourists will now have to pay to enter Venice

Venice is one of the most important tourist destinations in the world and is currently deeply in the grip of mass tourism. In 2022 alone, the historic center received a whopping 3.2 million tourists, surpassing its population of just 50,000. To address this concern, Venetian authorities have implemented a long-considered solution: an entrance fee for day trippers.

The day trip surcharge, which has been debated since 2019 but has been postponed several times, will officially come into effect on April 25, 2024. This €5 (USD 5.43) surcharge is mandatory for people entering Venice for a full day between 8:30 a.m. and 4:00 p.m. o’clock. Inspectors positioned at various checkpoints of the UNESCO World Heritage Site will be responsible for verifying compliance.

Luigi Brugnaro, the mayor of Venice, emphasizes the groundbreaking nature of this plan as “an experiment, and the first time it has been implemented anywhere in the world”.

Tickets for a day trip to Venice: entrance fee, exemptions and more

Last year, UNESCO threatened to put Venice on its list of heritage sites in danger due to concerns about mass tourism and rising water levels linked to climate change. To get around this reputation, the Italian city has now introduced a day trip surcharge for tourists.

This day trip fee, also known as the Venice entrance fee, only applies to daily tourists who enter the city during designated peak times. The categories exempt from the day trip surcharge include tourists staying in hotels, tourists under the age of 14 and specially handicapped tourists.

In the initial phase, the entrance fee to Venice will only come into effect on 29 of the busiest days of 2024, mainly on weekends from May to July.

Currently there is no daily limit on the number of tickets sold. The tickets can be purchased as a QR code on the Comune di Venezia website.

Authorities will station officers at (and around) main entrances to Venice, such as Santa Lucia Stations, where random checks will be carried out on day trippers. If tourists are found without the day trip ticket, they may be fined between EUR 50 (USD 53) and EUR 300 (USD 321) or asked to purchase a ticket on the spot with the assistance of local operators.

The mayor of Venice has ensured that the day trip program will be carried out with “very gentle controls” and “without queues” to confirm that the city will not install barriers or turnstiles on the streets.

Venice’s ongoing struggle with mass tourism

Long-standing concerns about overtourism in Venice have led the City of Canals to take several measures. In 2021, Venice banned giant cruise ships carrying day trippers and redirected them to another industrial port down the road. The city also imposed a tax on overnight visitors.

(Feature Image Credit: Cristi Croitoru/Shutterstock)

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