Cruise And Train Travelers To Venice Expect To Pay To Visit The Popular Italian Floating City For A Day In 2019
by Heather Cassell
Want that iconic selfie aboard a gondola floating through the canals of Venice? It will cost you more than the ride and tip to the gondolier, even if you are just spending a day in the City of Canals.
Venice is imposing a new day-trip travel tax of up to $11 (10 euros) per visitor to enter the famous floating city for a single day.
The city already imposes a tourist tax, known as a landing tax, for overnight hotel guests that rakes in an estimated $34.5 million annually for the city. The city estimates that the new day-tripper tax could generate an estimated $57.5 million a year, reported the BBC.
It’s another attempt by Venetians to curb the popular city’s overtourism problem, which was written about in “Overbooked: The Exploding Business of Travel and Tourism” and many travel articles within the past decade.
The Italian city sees nearly 30 million tourists every year and that number simply isn’t going down as its streets and locals are flooded by travelers from all over the world.
Venetian mayor Luigi Brugnaro announced the new day tourist tax on a Twitter video December 30.
“From today, the disembarking tax in the historical center of Venice is law,” said Luigi, in the message translated by CNN.
“This will help us to better manage the city, keep it clean, and offer visitors better services.”
The $11 (10 euro) fee isn’t a flat fee. The tax will fluctuate based on popular travel times throughout the year. During the lowest travel season visitors will be expected to pay anywhere from an estimated $3 (2.50 euro) to $6 (5 euro) per traveler and during the highest travel time visitors can anticipate paying full price for a day trip. The city plans to have the tax in place by the 2019 busy travel season, reported the BBC.
Venetians all agree something has to be done about the massive waves of visitors that crowd the city streets making living in the city uncomfortable for locals. However, their reviews about the new day visitor tax are mixed.
A Venetian Gondolier who identified himself as Cuba wasn’t convinced the tax would help solve Venice’s overtourism issues. He likened the tax to that of an entrance fee to a museum.
“Entering Venice will be like entering into a museum, I don’t think the measure will help the problem of transforming Venice into a Disneyland, with fake glass shops and piazza sellers replacing the old ‘bottega’ or artisan shops,” he told CNN.
Marco Malafante, a local who manages luxury vacation rentals in Venice, agreed with the city’s government’s move to charge day-trippers to help improve the quality of life for locals and to keep the city clean.
“Venice is engulfed by tourists and we have to reduce the day trippers in favor of a more qualified, let’s call it ‘luxury’ tourism,” said Marco, who has found himself stuck in crowded lanes. “The alternative is simply that we all are uncomfortable in Venice.”
Claudio Scarpa, head of Ava, the Venice hotel managers’ association, agreed.
He told the BBC, that “the principle is that whoever visits from the morning to evening, contributing just a tiny amount to the revenue from tourism, but imposing costs on our services, must understand that it’s not all there for free.”
Bottom line, from now and into the foreseeable future is that if you travel to Venice by cruise ship or train for a day trip from Florence, as Girls That Roam did this summer, you will most likely be charged a full $11 for the privilege to wander through the city’s streets and bridges over its canals.
Book your next trip to make a difference with Girls That Roam Travel. Contact Heather Cassell at Girls That Roam Travel at 415-517-7239 or at .
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