British tourists going to a popular Italian hotspot are set to pay out daily charges after the city has announced the return of a controversial tourism tax.
Venice, the floating city of waterways, has just reintroduced a 5 Euro (£4.28) a day charge for tourists arriving on its busiest days, in a bid to put off some people from visiting. The tourism tax was increased to 5 Euros last year and has now returned for the 2025 tourism season, having been put in place from April 18 until July 27.
The charge applies to anyone trying to get into Venice’s lagoon city between 8.30am and 4.30pm an is a bid to reduce overtourism and cut visitor numbers.
Inspectors then make random checks and can issue on the spot fines of up to 300 Euros (£256) for anyone not found to have a valid ticket.
The scheme was run as a pilot in April across a 29-day period in 2024 and has been extended to a longer duration for 2025 after it was found to have little impact on visitor numbers.
The charge is doubled if bought within three days of arrival to the city. The levy will now apply on 54 dates, largely weekends, between April 18 and July 27, nearly double the period chargeable last year.
Visitors are then given a QR code which they need to present to stewards hirfed to patrol key entry points.
Children aged under 14 are exempt, as are tourists from the wider Veneto region.
Venice’s councillor for tourism Simone Venturini said it will provide Venice with ‘objective data’ to better understand its ‘overtourism’ problem.