Venice will double the entrance fee to the city.

Tourists present a QR code confirming payment upon arrival in Venice on peak day.

Simone Venturini, a senior official in Venice, said the city has proposed doubling the fee for tourists to 10 euros by 2025, after a trial of 5 euros this summer.

Venice charges tourists a fee starting April 25th for 29 peak days of the year, mainly weekends from May to July, from 8 am to 4 pm. Visitors arriving before and after this period, those staying overnight, residents, or those coming to the city for work are exempt. Local authorities state that this fee "is not a money-making tool for the city" but is used for various social purposes.

The collected fees will be used to upgrade the living environment, essential services, garbage collection, maintenance, and price stabilization. Those who intentionally evade the fee will face heavy fines, but so far no one has been caught. City officials said they want this trial fee collection to "launch gently," without being too harsh on tourists.

City councillor Giovanni Andrea Martini, however, argued that charging tourists a fee was a failure. Doubling the fee to 10 euros was "completely pointless" because it would turn Venice into a museum where visitors had to buy tickets.

Over the weekend, many people protested outside Santa Lucia train station against the tourist fee. They argued that the policy had not reduced the number of visitors, but had even attracted more. During the 11 days the fee was in effect, an average of 75,000 people visited each day, an increase of 10,000 per day compared to the same period in 2023. Currently, the number of available beds for tourists in Venice is around 50,000, the lowest in history.

Venice, comprising over 100 islands of varying sizes in northeastern Italy, is considered one of the most beautiful cities in the world and was recognized as a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 1987. In 2023, Venice avoided being included on UNESCO's list of endangered heritage sites after the local authorities implemented an entrance fee policy effective from April 25th.

In 2021, Venice banned large cruise ships carrying thousands of passengers from docking, rerouted them to a more distant industrial port, and imposed taxes on overnight guests.

TH (according to VnExpress)

Source: https://baohaiduong.vn/venice-se-tang-gap-doi-phi-vao-thanh-pho-387658.html