Venice, Italy, looks set to increase its tourist entry charge in 2025, after a review of the trial scheme revealed the current fee has had little success in slashing visitor numbers.
Background
An access contribution or “contributo di accesso” of five euros was introduced in spring 2024, applying to 29 of the busiest days in the high season and aimed at deterring some day trippers from deciding to visit the lagoon city on those days.
Venice receives approximately 30 million tourists every year, and around 70% of those go for just one day. Its streets, squares and canals heaving with visitors, the city was warned by UNESCO prior to the Covid-19 pandemic that it risked losing its World Heritage status if the crowding continued.
The entry fee
Fast forward to 2024 and city officials put in place the tourist tax, requiring any visitor arriving between the hours 8:30 am and 4:00 pm on the set dates to register online in advance. Registration generated a QR code that could be kept on a smartphone or printed out to use as a pass through entry points. These were controlled by city employees who in theory could impose heavy fines of up to 300 euros on anyone flouting the rules.
In practice the pilot scheme, which came to an end on Sunday 14 July, has not reduced visitor numbers as much as some people had hoped, though it has raised a huge pot of funds. The intervention was unpopular with many city residents, who, though they did not have to pay to move around the city, still had to prove their residency. Some derided the concept of an entry fee, saying it effectively turned the city into a theme park. For those critics to be satisfied with the scheme, its positive effects needed to be clear.
Failure to impose fines
But with the city councillor responsible for tourism and social cohesion, Simone Venturini, admitting to Reuters that “very few, or probably no fines” had been levied, and many pointing out that the scheme had a derisory impact on incoming visitor numbers, changes are now likely to be made, including hiking the cost of the entry charge.
“It has been a total failure,” said opposition councillor Giovanni Andrea Martini, who added “The city is still packed with tourists” and noted that some visitors had ceased bothering to pay the charge as people realised and shared the news that the penalties were not being imposed.
However, that mild approach was a deliberate strategy, says Venturini. “In this experimental phase, rather than fining people, we have focused on informing them,” he said.
Changes to the scheme
Defending the entry fee, Venturini insisted early analysis has yielded positive results. “On some weekends there were less people than the same time last year … but no one expected that all the day trippers would miraculously disappear.” Confirming the charge would be in place again next year, he claimed “It will be more effective in the coming years when we increase the number of days and lift the price.”
It has not yet been announced how many days will be affected by the charge in 2025, nor how much the cost of visiting Venice will go up.
