 |
| Venice starts charging tourist fees to pay for increasing cost city maintenance |
Beginning on May 25 the visitors of the city of canals will begin paying a €3 entry fee, which will later rise to €6 in 2020.
The Venetian government eventually plans to create a variable entry fee ranging from €3-to-€10 depending on the number of tourists in the city. Visitors who attempt to avoid paying the entry fee will face a stiff €450 municipal fine.
The plan is to exempt hotel guests, as they already pay a city tax, and children under the age of 6,
Over the past decade, Venice has been so inundated with tourists that local residents have had difficulty coping with the increasing crowds and sky-high property prices that continue to climb. Local residents that have lived in Venice for generations have been forced to leave the city as scores of cruise ship visitors and day=trippers have effectively taken over.
An estimated 14 million tourists visit Venice just for a day, which brings little-to-no benefit to the local economy. Instead, tourism burden local authorities are left with excessive costs for the cleaning and maintenance of the city’s centuries-old infrastructure.
Read more: Venice introduces entry fee for tourists
