Too many tourists? Visitors to Venice, Italy about to get hit with entrance fees for day trips
Venice will try out an entrance fee for day trippers to the Italian municipality’s Old City for a 30-day period in spring 2024, city officials announced.
The fee will cost five euros, or $5.40. The start date and calendar for the trial run has not yet been set, Venice Mayor Luigi Brugnaro said in a post on X.
The fee will apply to all day trippers visiting over the age of 14, city officials said in a release. Children under the age of 14, people in need of medical care, overnight tourists, residents of the wider Veneto region, athletes competing in competitions in Venice, and relatives of people living in Venice’s Old City would all be exempt from the charge.
Excluded from the fee are residents of the rest of Venice, workers and commuters, and students in the local area, officials said.
Officials want visitors to understand that the move was made to help balance the priorities of Venetian locals and of tourists.
“The message we want to give is that Venice is accessible, open, but visitors, both national and international, must understand that planning is needed to better manage the balance between housing and tourism,” Michele Zuin, the city’s budget councilor, said in a statement as translated by Google.
