Venice to start charging for entry next year. Here's all we know

Tourist-flooded Venice approved guidelines on Tuesday for testing a new fee for day-trippers on peak visitor weekends next year. The city council gave the go-ahead for the guidelines, tweaking earlier plans for a fee that were announced a year ago. The exact dates of the plan and how it will be run will be agreed upon after final council approval, which is expected on 12 September. Notably, it is the first city to charge daytrippers in the world. Let’s take a closer look. Also read: How powerful is India's passport? The entry fee Starting in the spring of 2024, visitors who aren’t staying the night will have to pay five euros (~Rs 445) to enter the floating city on busy days. Instead of operating across a month, the authorities will spread out the billable days over the course of the year, choosing the days that are expected to be busiest. For instance, busy times during Carnival and vacation weekends, according to CNN. [caption id=“attachment_13094952” align=“alignnone” width=“640”] Tourists walk in St. Mark’s Square in Venice, Italy. Reuters[/caption] “The aim is to disincentivise daily tourism in certain periods, in line with the fragility and uniqueness of the city,’’ the statement said. According to mayor Luigi Brugnaro, who shared the news on X (formerly Twitter), this is not a permanent move yet. The test will last about 30 days and take place in 2024 on spring weekends spanning Italian national holidays and summer weekends. The exact days of the test will be set by the city in the coming weeks. Exemptions The fee will be applied to day-trippers over the age of 14. Those exempted from the fee include people who commute to work in Venice or on the smaller islands, students, residents of the Veneto region, which includes the city, and those who pay taxes on local property. According to CNN, people who just went to the “minor islands” of the lagoon will also not be required to pay; hence, if they arrived immediately at Burano or Murano, two islands that experience overtourism, they wouldn’t be need to pay. The majority of tourists from outside the Veneto region, however, transit through the city to get there, thus they would still be required to pay. Also read: Europe is going to start charging tourists for entry. Here’s what will change The reason behind the move Roughly four-fifths of all tourists come to Venice just for the day, according to AP. In 2019, the last full year of tourism before the COVID-19 pandemic, about 19 million day-trippers visited Venice and provided just a fraction of the revenue of those who stayed for at least one night. With just a few hours to spend in Venice, day-trippers tend to flock to St. Mark’s Square and other tourist musts, adding to pedestrian traffic that makes walking down the city’s narrow streets or over some of its bridges a slow slog. The fee is “not a tool for making cash,” the city said in a statement. Instead, the strategy aims to improve the quality of life for Venice’s dwindling number of full-time residents as well as overnight visitors, who already pay a lodging tax and so will be exempt from the fee. In a statement, Simone Venturini, the city councillor in charge of tourism, stated that after paying attention to suggestions from residents and opposition councillors, modifications had been made to the initial proposal. “Aware of the urgency to find a new balance between the rights of those who live, work and study in Venice, and those who visit the city, we are setting ourselves up as global frontrunners. On certain days and in certain periods, we need innovative management of [footfall] flow, in order to stem daytripper tourism. Tourism management is a priority for the future of our city – a city that will always remain open to everyone,” he said in a statement. [caption id=“attachment_13094962” align=“alignnone” width=“640”] People ride on a gondola in Venice, Italy. Reuters[/caption] The fee strategy was discussed a few years ago but was put on hold during the pandemic. Travel restrictions during much of the outbreak saw tourism in Venice nearly vanish — and let Venetians have their city practically to themselves for the first time in decades. Last year, an advance sign-up plan for day-trippers was envisioned in addition to the fee. Tuesday’s statement by the city didn’t indicate if consideration will eventually be given to capping the number of day-trippers at certain times. Also read: Why US and UK travellers will need a visa for Europe Venice overtourism Mass tourism to Venice started in the mid-1960s, and visitor numbers have kept climbing. Meanwhile, the number of Venetians living in the city has steadily decreased due to congestion, the high cost of delivering food and other goods in car-less Venice, and frequent flooding that damages homes and businesses. In 1970, the historic heart of Venice — excluding inhabitants living on tiny, quaint Venetian lagoon islands Murano and Burano — had a full-time population of about 110,000. By last year, that number had shrunk to barely 50,000. Europe, too, will start charging tourists for entry Starting next year, Europe will no longer be free for globetrotters. The European Travel Information and Authorisation System (ETIAS) permission will be needed prior to arrival, according to the official travel website of the European Union. According to the EU website, ETIAS “is an entry requirement for visa-exempt nationals travelling to any of these  30 European countries.” ”The rules of travel to Europe have changed. Starting from 2024, some 1.4 billion people from over 60 visa-exempt countries are required to have a travel authorisation to enter most European countries,” the EU website stated. The programme has been introduced to evaluate potential security concerns associated with travellers before their arrival and stop cross-border crime and terrorism, NDTV had reported. According to CNN, initially, ETIAS was slated to start in May this year, however, it has been pushed back quite a few times. With the latest notice, it seems the system will be implemented next year. With inputs from agencies