Tourists will have to pay from April 25 to visit Venice

World premiere in Venice on April 25: Tourists today will have to pay five euros to get into the dog city, which hopes to stop overtourism.

• Read also: Venice opens ticket purchases to combat overtourism

“It's an experiment, and it's the first place that works in the world.” It's the first time that the world in Venice Luigi Brugnaro had a press conference in Rome on the media. From the whole world.

“It's not about making money (…) Our goal is to make Venice more livable,” he stressed, while Serenissima is one of the most visited cities in the world. At peak attendance, 100,000 tourists sleep there, in addition to tens of thousands of visitors daily. Compare that to about 50,000 residents in the city centre, which continues to be depopulated.

For 2024, only 29 days of high tourist influx are affected by this new tax: “The calendar starts on April 25 (public holiday in Italy, editor's note), then follows almost every weekend from May to July,” said Luigi Brugnaro. Which promised “very smooth”, “random” and “no queues” controls.

This tax, whose implementation has been postponed several times, only targets tourists who enter the Old City daily between 8:30 am and 4:00 pm local time. They will have to download the QR code for five euros on the dedicated website, which is available in English, Spanish, French, German and, of course, Italian.

If necessary, they will have to present it to monitors stationed at the main entrances to the city, in particular the Santa Lucia train station. Tourists who do not complete this formality will be invited to get it at the last minute on their arrival with the help of local operators.

This will not be a problem because currently there is no cap set on the number of QR codes sold per day. Keen said: “We oppose the limited number, otherwise we will no longer be a city but a museum.” Highlight Venice Advisor.

Tourists who sleep at least one night at the site are not affected and will receive a free QR code. In addition, several exemptions are provided, especially for those under 14 years of age and students.

The main goal of this project is to discourage day visitors who contribute to crowding in the city, which is famous throughout the world for its works of art, bridges and canals and which has been listed as a UNESCO World Heritage Site since 1987.