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CNN
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The Venice entry fee is back — and this time it’s double the trouble.
Or rather, it will be for last-minute daytrippers to the city, who’ll see the entrance fee double from last year’s 5 euros to 10 euros. The fee will also be applied on almost twice as many dates as it was last year.
Having implemented a world first in charging entry to the city for day visitors in 2024, Venice has doubled down on the scheme for the upcoming season, with 54 dates earmarked for the fee, as opposed to 29 last year.
The dates start with a continuous block from April 18 — May 4 and then continue every Friday, Saturday and Sunday from May through the end of July. As before, the fee will be due for visitors without an overnight reservation, in the city between 8.30 a.m. and 4 p.m.
The 10 euro fee will be halved for those booking four or more days in advance.
“The pilot project [of 2024] worked,” said Simone Venturini, the city’s tourism councillor, at at the BIT tourism fair in Milan.
“The aim remains the same: create a new system to manage tourist flow and disincentivize daytripper tourism in several periods, in line with the delicate and unique nature of the city, to guarantee the respect that it merits.”
He said that other destinations from “the rest of the world” had contacted Venice authorities to ask about the scheme, including those from the Spanish island of Formentera and Kyoto in Japan.
Data from last year’s visitor registrations shows that tourists to Venice came from 194 countries around the globe. After Italians, Americans were the next biggest group, followed by German and French visitors.
Nearly half a million (485,062) visitors paid the entrance fee last year, which raised 2.4 million euros, though it’s not known how much the scheme cost to implement or where the money was used.
“The entrance fee in itself is certainly not sufficient to manage tourist flows, but the system that has been created to implement it constitutes a base for a future series of integrated actions,” the city authorities said in a statement. They said that the scheme had seen a “light reduction” in the number of daytrippers from the local Veneto region, but didn’t provide numbers.
As with last year, anyone staying overnight within the city limits is exempt from the fee but must register online for an exemption. The site to pay the fee or register an exemption remains cda.ve.it.
The fee is not required for those merely transiting at Piazzale Roma, Tronchetto or Stazione Marittima (the city center port) and are not entering the city center. It is also not required for those visiting the outer islands of the lagoon, including the Lido, Murano and Burano — though that will be a moot point for most vacationers, who will have to transit the city center to reach those islands.