Venice – The first city to charge you an entrance fee

Traveling to Venice this summer? Well, get ready to open up your wallet wider for an entrance fee into the city of canals.

Seven years after the city began taxing overnight guests, Venice will now charge day-trippers as well.

The city’s mayor, Luigi Brugnaro, said that the fee would “protect those who live, study and work in our territory,” according to the Independent. “It will help us to manage the city better, to keep it clean, to offer innovative services to guests and to make the Venetians live more decorously.”

The visitation fee is a natural outgrowth of measures instituted in the spring of 2018. Back then, Venice installed crowd-control turnstiles, which limit the flow of people into the city center during periods of overcrowding. These turnstiles will likely be used to collect the new visitation fee, per the Daily Beast.

This new fee is targeted mainly at cruise ship tourists, a numerous group that generates concern about “over tourism,” but doesn’t contribute to the local economy: they spend very little during their quick visits, as they usually eat and sleep on the ship. Although the city has admitted that it may be harder to collect the new fee from tourists who arrive by plane or rail, Venice will still achieve its primary goal of raising funds from cruise ship passengers.

The city is planning on rolling out the fee before this year’s peak tourist season, and the cost will fluctuate depending on the time of year. According to the BBC, the city will charge between €2.50 to €5 ($2.83 to $5.66) per person, although the cost may rise to €10 ($11.32) during the summer. In total, the new fee could generate $56.6 million in revenue.

Sending happy travel vibes! 💋

Photo credits: passionpassport.com and hilvees