Venice collects 2.4 million in entry fees from day visitors.
With the first entrance fee for day visitors, Venice, Italy, earned over 2.4 million Euro. A total of 485,000 paying visitors were registered during the 29 valid days of the trial phase. This information was released in the first official balance sheet published by the city administration on Friday. Mayor Luigi Brugnaro announced that a fee would be charged on certain days next year. He did not comment on the height or other details.
The world's first such test of a city suffering from mass tourism came to an end over the weekend. It is already known that starting from next year, around ten Euros will have to be paid when the city at the Adriatic Sea in Italy is particularly crowded. The "basic fare" is expected to be lower, possibly three Euros. Reliable estimates on how many tourists managed to avoid the fee are not available.
Generally, during the first trial phase, an entrance fee of five Euros was waived between 8:30 AM and 4:00 PM, mostly on weekends. A QR code could be obtained online and downloaded onto a smartphone. Otherwise, a fine of up to 300 Euros threatened - however, no one had to pay that much. There were also numerous exceptions: residents, hotel guests, and children under 14 years old did not have to pay. This is expected to remain the case.
The success of the entrance fee during the test phase in Venice led to over 2.4 million Euros being earned from over 485,000 day visitors. With the implementation of this fee on particularly crowded days next year, Venice is expected to generate additional millions, contributing significantly to its income.
