Venice, often dubbed the “City of Canals,” has long grappled with the effects of overtourism on its delicate infrastructure and dwindling population. In an attempt to address these concerns, the city council recently proposed a new guideline to introduce a fee for day-tripping tourists on select weekends during peak visitor seasons.
Approved on September 5, this refined guideline from an earlier proposal is set to gain its final approval by September 12. The core principle behind this fee, which is slated to be €5 (US$5.50) per visiting day-tripper, isn’t revenue generation but rather an earnest effort to enhance the life quality of the city’s permanent residents and long-term visitors. The latter group, who already contribute via lodging taxes, will remain untouched by this new charge.
Venice’s unique initiative will undergo testing for roughly 30 days in 2024, targeting weekends during Italian national holidays in spring and summer weekends. Specific dates for this trial phase will be confirmed in the ensuing weeks. The city council’s primary goal with this measure is to deter daily tourism during specific times, emphasizing the city’s delicate nature and unparalleled historic charm.
However, a set of exemptions is already in place. Commuters traveling to Venice or its smaller neighboring islands for work, students, the local Veneto region’s residents, and local property tax contributors are excused from this fee. Notably, this fee will be pertinent only for day visitors over 14 years of age.
Historical data showcases that nearly 80% of Venice’s annual tourists are day-trippers. A staggering 19 million such visitors explored the city in 2019, the year prior to the global Covid-19 disruptions. Despite these large numbers, the revenue from day tourists pales in comparison to those staying overnight.
The short duration of their visit means day tourists predominantly crowd iconic spots like St Mark’s Square, exacerbating congestion in Venice’s slender streets and its scenic bridges. Such overcrowding not only mars the experience for other visitors but also significantly affects the daily life of the city’s inhabitants.
This fee-oriented strategy isn’t a new concept for Venice. Such a proposal had been on the table years before but was sidelined during the pandemic. While the virus-induced travel bans drastically curbed tourism, allowing residents to experience their city without the usual throngs of visitors, it also underscored the city’s economic dependency on tourism. Interestingly, in 2022, the idea of a prior sign-up for day tourists was mooted in tandem with the proposed fee.
Venice began its journey as a global tourist hotspot in the mid-1960s. As visitor counts rose, the number of permanent residents saw a contrasting decline. Several factors contribute to this decline, including the challenges of a car-less city, frequent flooding incidents, and the escalating costs of essential services and goods. Astonishingly, while the heart of Venice boasted a robust population of around 110,000 in 1970, this number had alarmingly dwindled to a mere 50,000 by the previous year.
In sum, while Venice continues to enamor millions with its romantic allure and architectural marvels, the balance between sustainable tourism and preserving its intrinsic character remains a challenge that the city is determined to address.
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