Venice doubles controversial tourist tax — but only for certain visitors

Venice is doubling down connected its entry interest for time trippers successful 2025, pursuing a proceedings tally play past twelvemonth that ‘slightly’ reduced crowds. 

The city’s authorities confirmed connected Monday that the existent €5 (£4.20) interest volition summation to €10 (£8.30) — but lone for last-minute travellers who publication little than 4 days successful advance.

The arguable complaint volition screen 54 days this year, up from 29 successful 2024, starting betwixt April 18 and May 4 and past each Friday, Saturday and Sunday from May to the extremity of July. 

Day trippers visiting betwixt 8:30am and 4pm indispensable wage the interest portion residents and overnight guests – who already wage a abstracted tourist tax – are exempt.

Venice introduced the first-of-its-kind entree interest past twelvemonth successful a bid to curb ‘hit-and-run’ tourists who flood the metropolis for a fewer hours without staying overnight.

The interest is paid done the Venice Access Fee website, wherever tourists download a QR codification to usage electrical turnstiles astatine the city’s main introduction points, including the bid station.

Those without a summons look fines ranging from €50 (£41) to €300 (£250), with checks carried retired astatine cardinal points of entry. 

Simone Venturini, the city’s tourism councillor, declared that the 2024 proceedings had worked.

‘The purpose remains the same: make a caller strategy to negociate tourer travel and disincentivize time tripper tourism successful respective periods, successful enactment with the delicate and unsocial quality of the city, to warrant the respect that it merits,’ helium said astatine the BIT tourism just successful Milan.

Mr Venturini said officials from destinations astir the satellite had contacted Venice authorities to inquire astir the scheme, including those from Ibiza and Kyoto successful Japan, which has been described arsenic ‘the seventh ringing of hell’ owed to overtourism.

Authorities claimed a precocious commissioned survey recovered that visits successful 2024 were booked ‘well successful advance’ connected mean and a ‘slight reduction’ successful the travel of time trippers. 

Venice attracts astir 30 cardinal visitors per year. On its busiest days, up to 120,000 cardinal walk through, acold much than it tin handle. 

And it’s not the lone Italian destination struggling with overtourism. 

Last month, an activistic radical known arsenic the Robin Hood Band staged protests crossed Italy, warring against overtourism and the interaction of platforms specified arsenic Airbnb and Vrbo. 

The vigilante radical has targeted cities including Rome, Florence and Naples, wherever locals accidental tourism is driving up rents and pushing retired semipermanent residents. 

Saboteurs permission down Robin Hood-style hats and letters describing their vandalism arsenic attacks connected the rich, a motion to expanding anti-establishment activism astir the world.

Residents are arsenic arsenic fed up crossed Europe. In October past year, thousands took to the streets of Madrid to protestation extortionate location prices and the interaction of vacation rental sites.

Barcelona has besides seen galore demonstrations. In the summer, protestors equipped with h2o pistols demanded ‘tourists spell home’, portion tens of thousands protested successful the metropolis successful November demanding little location prices. 

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