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Sea levels aren’t the only thing rising.
Waterlogged Venice wowed the travel world last year by slapping visitors with a controversial entry fee to help keep the sinking city afloat — and now local officials are doubling the rate.
Said to have been initiated in 2024 as a response to the adverse effects of overtourism on the precarious UNESCO World Heritage Site, even locals were more than a little gondo-leery of the surprise 5 euro fee (roughly $5.15) at the time — with some calling the bailout plan little more than a symbolic drop in the bucket.
They must be over it now — the tariff for those who don’t make their booking and pay up at least four days ahead of time will increase to 10 euros (roughly $10.25), the local tourism office stated.
That, and they’re almost doubling the number of days per year the charge will be in effect, according to reports.
The fee was initially touted as a method of discouraging crowding during select peak season dates.
Visitors can still pay the discounted rate on the affected days — while those who make a last-minute decision will pay the new, steeper toll.
Fines for not registering can reportedly be as high as $310.
The scheme seems to have gone from shocking to sexy — tourism official Simone Venturini told colleagues at a recent industry convention of a flood of interest that followed the announcement, particularly from other destinations struggling to manage growing crowds.
“We confirm that several institutional bodies, both in Italy and internationally, have contacted the City of Venice to gain a deeper understanding of the [fee],” a spokesperson told Business Insider.
Kyoto, Japan, Formentera in Spain, Zermatt, Switzerland and other Italian destinations had all made inquiries, they shared.
The outlet stated that the change has already added 2.4 million euros (about $2.5 million) to local coffers — having the desired effect of keeping numbers from busting previous records during times of typical peak visitation.
Calling his city a “pioneer” in the fight against overtourism, Venturini expressed a renewed dedication to creating ” a new system to manage tourist flow and disincentivize daytripper tourism in several periods, in line with the delicate and unique nature of the city.”
Things got off to a rocky start last year, when angry activists took to the streets, passageways and canals of the proud former maritime republic to protest the new scheme, saying that Venice mayor Luigi Brugnaro — who commended his own, Marco Polo-level “bravery” for rubberstamping the scheme — had turned one of the world’s most romantic destinations into little more than a “theme park.”
“I can tell you that almost the entire city is against it,” local activist Matteo Secchi claimed at the time. “You can’t impose an entrance fee to a city; all they’re doing is transforming it into a theme park. This is a bad image for Venice … I mean, are we joking?”
Meanwhile, gauche guests of the Habsburgian haunt continue to do their best to give tourism a black eye — last summer, two men were spotted stripping down for a swim in the canal in front of a beloved historic cemetery.
“Shameful. Rude. Ignorant,” fumed one local at the time.
Months before that, a selfie-obsessed gondola full of sightseers capsized after they refused to stop standing up to take pictures, defying specific instructions to remain seated.
The tragicomic scene quickly went viral on social media.
