Unless you’ve been living under a crystalline marble rock these past few months, you’ll know that earlier in the summer Venice finally ran its trial of a small entry fee for day-trippers.
The programme was delayed several times and faced huge protests on the day of its launch, but the city pursued it in a bid to curb tourist numbers, and over 29 days between April 25 and July 14, tourists only entering the city for a day were charged €5 each.
Doesn’t sound like much, does it? Well, the QR code was downloaded and the tax paid no less than 485,062 times, meaning the scheme generated a hefty €2.4 million. Every little helps, right?
The scheme has been lauded as a success by the city, and even a ‘cultural revolution’ by Venice’s top tourist official Simone Venturini, according to Sky News. It’s since been reported that Venice is considering doubling the entry fee after a full analysis of the stats is carried out in the autumn.
While that’s not certain, we do have some stats on visitors. Around 60 percent were Italian, and between 6.5 and 4 percent were from the US, Germany or France. We also know that paying the tax took just two minutes on average.
People entering outside the hours of 8.30am and 4pm were exempt from paying the fee, but those failing random checks within that time faced fines of between €50 and €300 (£53 to £257) – you’re better off just paying the €5, eh?
We’ll have to wait til later this year and see if a €10 fee for certain days is implemented, so stay tuned for updates on this story.
And while we’re on the subject of the Floating City, here are our favourite things to do in Venice.
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