Venice nets $2.2 mn in day-tripper tax pilot programme

Venice ends pilot program charging day-trippers, raises €2 million, plans to extend levy despite opposition calling it a failure.

Venice on Sunday wraps up a pilot programme charging day-trippers an entrance fee, more than €2 million ($2.2 million) richer and determined to extend the levy, but opponents in the fragile lagoon city called the experiment a failure.

Several dozen activists gathered outside the Santa Lucia train station overlooking a teeming canal on Saturday to protest the €5 ($5.45) levy that they say did little to dissuade visitors from arriving on peak days, as envisioned.

“The ticket is a failure, as demonstrated by city data,” said Giovanni Andrea Martini, an Opposition city council member.

Over the first 11 days of the trial period, an average of 75,000 visitors were recorded in the city. Ms. Martini said that is 10,000 more each day than on three indicative holidays in 2023, citing figures provided by the city based on cell phone data that tracks arrivals in the city.

Venice imposed the long-discussed day-tripper tax on 29 days this year, mostly weekends and holidays, from April 25 through mid-July. The project, delayed by the pandemic, was heralded by UNESCO member states when they decided against a recommendation to place the city on its list of world heritage sites in danger.

Over the last two-and-a-half months, nearly 4,38,000 tourists have paid the tax, raising revenues of some €2.19 million ($2.4 million), according to data supplied by the city. Officials said the money would be used for essential services, which cost more in a city traversed by canals, including trash removal and maintenance.