By Crispian Balmer
ROME (Reuters) – Venice is going to broaden its tourist entry fee system in 2025, almost doubling the number of days visitors will have to pay to see the lagoon city, and hiking the price for last-minute arrivals, officials said on Thursday.
In a world first, the Italian destination introduced a 5- euro charge in April for daytrippers arriving on particularly congested days, hoping the levy would help thin the crowds.
The initial scheme, which was watched closely by other global tourist hotspots, covered 29 days over a four month period. This will be lifted to 54 days next year, over the same April-July window.
The charge will stay at 5 euros ($5.40) for those booking ahead of time, but will rise to 10 euros for anyone reserving within four days of their planned trip. As before, people with hotel and guest house reservations will be exempt.
“Venice has gone from being the city most exposed to and criticised for the phenomenon of overtourism, to being the city that is reacting to this phenomenon the earliest and most proactively on the global stage,” said Simone Venturini, the city councillor responsible for tourism and social cohesion.
He told a news conference the system was still in an experimental phase. He said places popular with tourists, including Japan’s historic city Kyoto and the Spanish island Formentera, had been in touch to ask about the scheme.
Critics have said the payment system failed to slow the flow of tourists, but Mayor Luigi Brugnaro said it was too soon to judge, with precise data only available this year.
He added that Venice did not want to shoo people away, but rather encourage visitors to rethink their dates.
“We are not against it (tourism). We just believe it can somehow be spread out,” he said, warning that the city would hand out fines in 2025 for people without a pass – something it had threatened to do in 2024, but did not.
In all, 485,062 people paid for a day pass this year, raising 2.25 million euros. This covered just some of the costs of the system, Brugnaro said, and was not aimed at raking in cash for the city coffers.
(Reporting by Crispian Balmer; Editing by Alison Williams)
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