Ah, Venice! With the magnificent Doge’s Palace, San Marco’s Piazza, the Grand Canal, Rialto Bridge, it is truly a magical city and one of my favorites. And apparently a lot of people agree with me! In 2017, Venice had over 36 million tourists, up 10% from 2016. And the numbers are only going up with the rise of cheap flights to Europe.
In the summer months, around 32,000 cruise ship passengers disembark in Venice every day according to the Port Authority. In August, more than 465,000 day trippers will make their way to the city, causing mass chaos with the additional 2.2 million tourists who will stay overnight.
I believe that everyone should experience Venice at least once in their lives, but it’s hard when it is wall to wall people and the alleys are so narrow. The amount of tourists is ruining the experience for everyone. And then there are the cruise ships, which have wreaked havoc on the city’s waterways and lagoons, sometimes colliding with other boats.
Thankfully, the government of Italy instituted a ban on cruise ships weighing over 100,000 tons from entering the Grand Canal and are now diverted to a neighboring industrial area. City authorities have brought in turnstiles designed to keep tourists our of some of the city’s most crowded areas over long holiday weekends. And during peak season, there are “decorum angels” that patrol some of the busier areas in town, warning tourists about eating or drinking in an undesignated area.
And now, the City of Venice will institute a tourism tax for day-trippers. The tax was announced last year and will be implemented on July 1, 2020. Right now the tax will be in the range between 3 – 10 Euros, ($3.30 - $11) a day. The tax will only be enforced for people who are visiting for the day, either by cruise ship, water taxi, plane or train.
Anyone who stays overnight already pays a tax as part of an accommodation charge at their hotel. There will be exceptions for people who travel to Venice for work, study or family reasons.
The money collected from the tax will contribute to general upkeep of the city, and help locals with the high charges they pay for services such as trash collection.
City officials will soon announce more details on how visitors can pay the tax, and will focus on how you can pre-pay over the internet or in neighboring towns.