Venice will double the number of days it charges tourists an entrance fee by 2025, following a “successful” trial last year, the city’s mayor said.
Luigi Brugnaro said the aim is still to discourage tourists from visiting the city on the same days to “give Venice the respect it deserves”.
Day-trippers who book in advance will have to pay €5 (£4.17; $5.41) to reach the Italian city on certain days between April and July, rising to €10 if they book less than four days in advance.
The charge was first introduced last April and covered 29 days – mostly weekends and holidays – over a four-month period.
The tax will apply every Friday to Sunday and public holidays between 18 April and 27 July 2025, for a total of 54 days.
All visitors over the age of 14 will have to pay the fee on their phones and download a QR code to show the inspectors, who will check people at any of the common arrival points, such as the train station.
Those without a ticket risk a fine.
As with the previous charge, people booked in hotels and guesthouses will be exempted, as will be residents of the Veneto region, students enrolled at the University of Venice, and those visiting relatives living in Venice.
“Venice has gone from being the most exposed and criticized city for this excessive tourism, to being a city that is just beginning to face this situation in the world,” said city councilor Simone Venturini.
According to Italian media, in the first eight days of this program in April the authorities of Venice collected the amount they hoped to do in three months.
By the end of the trial period in mid-July, the city had collected around €2.4m (£2m; $2.5m) in entry fees.
But mayor Brugnaro said he’ll have to wait for more scrutiny to see if the plan’s budget breaks down entirely.
The cost of the ticket booking platform and the communication campaign that followed the announcement cost about €3m, Italian media reported.
The opposition councilor in Venice, Giovanni Andrea Martini, said in July that the entrance fee system was a mistake because it did not help to distribute the flow of tourists to Venice.
At the time, Mr Martini also said a possible increase from €5 to €10 was “irrelevant” and would simply “turn Venice into a museum”.
Last year Unesco said the city should be included in the list of world heritage sites in danger, as the impact of climate change and mass tourism threaten to cause irreversible changes in it.
And in 2021, Large ships were prohibited from entering the historic center of Venice through the Giudecca Canal after a shipwreck in the harbor.
Critics also said the ships were creating pollution and eroding the foundations of the city, which suffers from frequent floods.
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