Venice introduces €5 tourist tax this week

Day trippers must now pay €5 to visit Venice after the historic Italian city introduced the levy designed to combat excessive tourism.

Venice Access Fee tickets will be required for the first time this Thursday (April 25), which is a bank holiday in Italy. At first tickets will only be required on selected days throughout 2024, which are mainly weekends in the spring and summer when visitor numbers are at their highest.

Visitors will be able to purchase the €5 tickets and download a QR code to their phones. This will then be checked by inspectors in random spot checks, particularly in areas where visitors will be arriving. Those without a ticket will be required to purchase one on arrival and risk a fine of between €50 to €300.

The fee will be targeted at the more than 19 million day trippers who visit the city each year, but provide just a fraction of the revenue of those who stayed for at least one night. Overnight visitors are exempt from the scheme as they already pay a tourist tax of up to €5 per night. The fee does not apply to children under 14, as well as residents, homeowners, students and workers.

A spokesperson said: “This fee, a first-of-its-kind experiment, aims at managing visitor influx more effectively and preserving the city’s unique heritage, discouraging ‘hit-and-run’ tourism.”

Venice Access Fee targets popular days

The Venice Access Fee will apply on 29 days, starting from April 25 to May 5 and also during weekends in May and June – excluding the Festa della Repubblica weekend in June – as well as the first two weekends of July. The day-tripper fee will only apply during peak hours from 8:30am to 4pm.

Italy’s national government gave Venice approval to introduce a ‘landing fee’ of up to €10 for tourists back in 2019.

Speaking last year, Venice’s budget councillor Michele Zuin said: “This is a significant turning point in the management of tourism flows in Venice. We will start a continuous and direct comparison with all economic and social categories to monitor the short- and medium-term effects together, with a view to involving all stakeholders.

“The exemptions comply with good standards and sense to guarantee access to Venice to those who work, study, have loved ones, have health needs or must travel out of necessity to the regional capital, which hosts many administrative functions.

“The message we want to give is that Venice is accessible and open, but visitors, both national and international, must understand that planning is needed to best manage the balance between residents and tourists.”