The city of Venice introduced the Venice Tourist Tax pilot project in 2024 to curb overtourism and to return a little balance to the ancient city, particularly for locals, to help the economy and environment. It is now being extended in scope for anyone visiting in 2025—here’s what to know.
The Venice Tourist Tax To Defeat Overtourism
While loathe to bite the hand that feeds it, the city of Venice has long felt that it is overrun with tourists and it’s a battle that has seen tensions rise dramatically over the past decade.
In summer 2021 as an example, 80,000 day trippers filed off an increasing number of cruise ships, many criticised because these passengers contribute very little to the economy because they don’t sleep in its hotels or eat dinner in its restaurants. Plus, the city is feeling the environmental impacts of these giant cruise liners along the delicate, already-submerging ancient canal waterways.
The debate has been flaring since the 2019 crash by a giant liner into the large Giudecca canal, one of the main water thoroughfares which leads to St Mark’s Square.
But there are also more tourists visiting overnight too. The Washington Post reports that a record-breaking 3.5 million people stayed the night in a Venetian hotel in 2023, which locals feel is ruining the fabric of the city. Tourists leave 70,000 tons of waste behind them every year and treat the city as a play space, sometimes joyriding in gondolas.
And while tourists spend $3 billion each year, many locals feel it’s too high a sum for the many Italians priced out of the property market—property owners can make more money renting out apartments short-term than they can to locals, longer-term.
The Venice Tourist Tax—Just The Latest Ban
Prior to the Venice tourist tax, the city put considerable effort into limiting tourists in other ways. In 2021, the city of Venice banned cruise ships from its Giudecca Canal in response to a request from UNESCO and in 2023 it announced a ban on guided-tourist groups of over 25 people and loudspeakers.
The 2024 pilot tourist tax scheme trialed a $5 daily fee for day tripping tourists visiting on 29 specific days, mostly weekends, between April and July.
Visitors over 14 were required to purchase a ticket that they downloaded onto their phones with a QR code that they had to show to ticket inspectors if stopped in a random check.
Tourists that spent the night in the city were exempt as they already pay hotel tourist taxes and instead, the hotel provided a QR code for them to roam the city freely.
The Venice Tourist Tax—Continued In 2025
The 2024 tourist tax was seen as successful and will be extended to cover 54 days in 2025 from 18 April to 27 July, mostly over Fridays, Saturdays, Sundays and public holidays. The price will remain at around $5 (€5) but will double to €10 if a ticket is booked less than 4 days in advance.
The 54 days are as follows:
- April 2025: from 18 to 30 April.
- May 2025: from 1st to 4th, 9th to 11th, 16th to 18th, 23rd to 25th and 30th and 31st May.
- June 2025: the 1st and 2nd, 6th to 8th, 13th to 15th, 20th to 22nd and 27th to 29th June.
- July 2025: from 4th to 6th, 11th to 13th, 18th to 20th and 25th to 27 July.
The QR code will again be necessary for anyone visiting for the day who is over 14 years of age, unless they are a resident of the region, disabled or visiting friends and relatives (but these individuals still need to download a QR code to say they are exempt).
Likewise, tourists who can prove that they have booked somewhere to stay (in either Venice, Murano, Burano, Lido, Pellestrina, Favaro Veneto, Mestre-Carpenedo, Chirignago-Zelarino and Marghera) for at least one night, don’t need to pay.
Visitors planning to walk alongside the ancient canals of Venice can purchase tickets for the Venice tourist tax starting April 2025 here.
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