Venetian authorities have announced an extension of the controversial day-tripper entry tax in 2025, following a trial period in 2024 that reportedly led to a slight reduction in visitor numbers. The initiative, aimed at controlling tourist flows and making the city more livable, will now apply to 54 days in the coming year—up from 29 days last year.
First introduced in April 2024 as an experiment, the Venice Access Fee requires day-trippers to pay €5 ($5.15) on selected dates before entering the historic center. Officials hope the measure will help alleviate overcrowding in the UNESCO-listed city, which frequently struggles with excessive numbers of visitors. At peak times, Venice hosts up to 100,000 overnight tourists, in addition to tens of thousands of daily visitors, many arriving from cruise ships.
For 2025, the tax will remain limited to the historic center of Venice, excluding surrounding islands such as Lido, Sant’Erasmo, Burano, and Murano. The charge will apply from 8:30 AM to 4:00 PM on designated dates:
April 2025: 18–30
May 2025: 1–4, 9–11, 16–18, 23–25, 30–31
June 2025: 1–2, 6–8, 13–15, 20–22, 27–29
July 2025: 4–6, 11–13, 18–20, 25–27
Visitors can purchase tickets online at cda.ve.it, where a QR code will be issued for verification at entry points. Those without a valid ticket risk fines ranging from €50 to €300.
Exemptions and Adjustments to the Policy
The Venice Entry Tax applies only to day visitors, with exemptions for several categories:
- Overnight visitors, who already pay a tourist accommodation tax linked to their stay.
- Venice residents and their relatives (up to the third degree of kinship).
- Students enrolled in Venetian schools or universities.
- Property owners in Venice, both Italian and foreign.
- Visitors traveling for professional reasons.
- Children under 14 years old.
- Passengers on tourist buses, who are already subject to a separate ZTL bus tax.
To encourage early bookings, the entry fee remains €5 for tickets purchased at least four days in advance, while last-minute purchases (within three days of arrival) will cost €10.
Venice’s tourism councillor, Simone Venturini, emphasized that the tax is not simply a revenue-generating measure but a strategic effort to regulate tourist flows and discourage mass daily tourism during peak periods.
“The goal is to define a new system for managing visitor numbers in line with the city’s uniqueness and sensitivity,” Venturini said.
According to a recently commissioned study, the introduction of the access fee in 2024 resulted in visitors booking their trips further in advance and contributed to a slight decline in day-trippers.
