Venice has had it with day-trippers overcrowding the city, so it’s introducing an entry fee for short-term tourists. “Landing fees” will be designed to generate income from the thousands of day-trippers arriving on cruise ships. Hundreds of cruises dock in Venice each year, and the entry fee is estimated to generate up to $56.8 million when it goes into effect later this year. Right now, the fee is expected to be set at between $3.85 and $5.70 per person but could rise as high as $11.50 during the peak summer months.
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Venice to Impose Entry Fee on Short-Term Tourists
According to Luigi Brugnaro, mayor of Venice, day-trippers contribute heavily to the wear-and-tear on the city’s infrastructure, which is not balanced evenly by the tourism dollars spent. The new entry fee would help offset some of these costs, going primarily toward keeping the city clean. While cruise passengers are the main targets, the charge will also be in place for those arriving by air, road, or rail — though those may prove more difficult to enforce.
Mass tourism has negatively impacted Venice’s historic character, and the tax is just one of many measures being taken to curb overtourism. The government has already taken steps to divert large cruise ships away from the city center and even considered banning new hotels. Rome, a city also dealing with overtourism, is starting off 2019 by banning tour buses from the city center. 