The city of Venice will plan to renew and even raise its day trip fee next year after successfully implementing it for the first time this summer.
The fee, which went into effect at €5 ($5.45) for 29 days and covered most weekends through mid-July, ended on Sunday. Now, Simone Venturini, the city councillor responsible for tourism and social cohesion, told Reuters the city has decided to once again charge a day trip fee in 2025.
Venturini said the price will also go up.
“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,” Venturini told the wire service. “It will be more effective in the coming years when we increase the number of days and lift the price.”
Italian newspaper il Fatto Quotidiano reported next year the rate will start at only €3 ($3.27) for travelers who book in advance, but it will rise to €10 ($10.91) on busier days.
Implementing the fee was a long process after it was first floated as an idea in 2019 and postponed several times, but it finally went into effect in April. The effort went hand-in-hand with other plans to reduce overtourism like limiting the number of travelers allowed on tour groups to no more than 25 people.
Tourists who stay overnight in the city are exempt from the day trip fee since overnight guests are already subject to a different tax. However, they had to apply online for an exemption.
Venice isn’t the only European city working to limit crowds. Earlier this year, Amsterdam banned nearly all new hotels from being built in the city and restricted the number of tourists who can stay overnight each year, and Greece tested a pilot program last summer limiting daily visitors to the famous Acropolis to 20,000 people.
