Tourists planning a day in Venice will need to be careful to remember to pay a new fee if they don’t want to incur a massive fine.
In its latest attempt to regulate the number of daily visitors arriving at the historic city, the local government is enforcing a £4.29 (€5) fee to be paid only on certain days by people not staying overnight.
The payment system is being launched later this month and will require most people entering Venice between 8.30am and 4pm local time to obtain a QR code showing either the payment of a ticket or their exemption from it.
Those failing to do so face a fine ranging from £42 (€50) to £257 (€300), to which will be added the cost of the ticket.
Tourists spending the night either in Venice or in the nearby districts of Marghera and Mestre will be among those exempt from the payment, as will be children aged 13 or younger, people born or living in Venice or the Veneto region. Those accessing Venice for school, work or medical care will also be among those who don’t have to pay the entry fee.
The new fee, different from the tourist tax being paid by tourists staying overnight, is being tested on 29 days, the first being April 25, an Italian national holiday.
The pilot scheme will be in place also between April 26 and May 5 and on most weekends up to mid-July.
This scheme may create queues at official entry points, although the city has not created physical barriers to allow the scanning of the ticket or exemption QR codes.
Careful not to call the fee a new tax, the Venetian administration has said this “contribution to access” the historic centre is a way to protect it.
Mayor Luigi Brugnaro said in a video published on the website explaining the new tax: “Venice is a fragile city, an ancient city with 1600 years of history, it has an extremely delicate balance, and we need to protect it.”
Speaking about the new fee, he added: “We are doing this with great humility, with the desire to show we can move from words to action.”
Acknowledging the new regulation could prompt queues and disruption, he continued: “We apologise if we will create some issues, if we will have a little delay during those days, but we are doing this because the city deserves to be safeguarded, it is a world heritage and we all need to make an effort.
“Thank you again for your contribution, for your patience and for coming to Venice.”
This plan is being enforced after Vevnice narrowly escaped being placed on the UN’s list of endangered heritage sites, largely due to issues created by overtourism.
In 2022, some 3.2 million visitors spent the night in Venice’s city centre.
But most of the tourists welcomed by the UNESCO World Heritage only spend a day in the city, and the overall number of yearly tourists entering the city every year is around 30 million.
