Venice Plans To Apply Entry Fees For Daily Tourists

Grand Canal Venice. (Wikimedia Commons/gnuckx)

JAKARTA - If nothing changes, Venice will charge entry fees of 5 euros (IDR 82,395) for daily visitors starting next year, in order to try to manage the flow of tourists coming to historic canals there, the City Council said on Tuesday.

The fee will be applied in trials for 30 days next year, focusing on spring holidays and summer weekends, when the number of tourists peaks. Later, all visitors over the age of 14 will be charged entry fees.

The goal is to find a "new balance between the rights of those living, studying or working in Venice and those visiting the city," said Venice's tourism council member Simone Venturini.

He added that this was not a move that made money, and the costs charged were only to cover the scheme's administrative costs.

The exact date and how the plan will be implemented will be agreed upon following the final approval of the council, which is expected next week.

Previously, the plan to impose an entry fee was first debated in 2019. However, it was postponed in line with the COVID-19 pandemic, as well as for technical and procedural reasons.

After the pandemic, tourists returned to Venice with a number often far exceeding the city's population of only 50,000.

Overtourism itself has long been a problem for the Italian lagoon city which is one of the favorite and famous tourist destinations.

In July, UNESCO experts recommended that Venice and its lagoon be added to the list of Endangered World Heritage, arguing Italy did not do enough to protect the city from the effects of climate change and mass tourism.

At that time UNESCO said Italy "has not communicated sustainably and substantively since its last Committee session in 2021, when UNESCO had threatened to blacklist Venice."

Venice, known for its cultural canals and sites, has been battling mass tourism for years. In one day during Carnival 2019, some 193,000 people packed the historic center.