Venice, Italy, will be the first city in the world to charge its day-trippers, CNN reports. Starting next spring, the island city's authorities plan to charge visitors who aren't staying overnight as part of a 30-day experiment meant "to discourage daily tourism in certain periods, in line with the fragility and uniqueness of the city," the City Council executive said Tuesday, per Forbes. Authorities will choose 30 days scattered over several months when the city is expected to be busiest—during holiday weekends and the Carnival festival, for example—and charge day-trippers on those days only. The proposed fee is 5 euros, or about $5.40.
The fee, which still requires the approval of the wider City Council at a meeting set for next Tuesday, will apply to day-trippers over the age of 14 who visit Venice's Old City or historic center, though there will be some exemptions, such as for "those participating in sporting competitions," according to a translated statement. The fee won't apply to those who travel to the city for work or school, certain relatives of Venice residents, or residents of the larger Veneto region. The funds raised will cover a new day-tripper booking system, per CNN. Many other details, including on the number of tickets to be issued on any given day, are still unclear.
"A further resolution ... will define, in addition to the days affected by the contribution, specific details and declinations," including "the time slots for the validity of the contribution and its value, which will initially be set at 5 euros," per the statement. The announcement comes weeks after the United Nations' cultural agency warned that Venice could be added to a list of endangered World Heritage sites if it doesn't do more to counter mass tourism and other issues that threaten irreversible damage to the city. "Regulating tourist flows in certain periods is necessary, but that does not mean closing the city," Mayor Luigi Brugnaro says, per Forbes. (More Venice stories.)
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