Which dates in 2024 do Venice day-trippers have to pay €5 entry fee?

Venice has released the 29 dates in 2024 when the new €5 entry fee system for day-trippers will be active, starting on 25 April, a public holiday in Italy.

The fee will only apply to tourists on day trips, not those staying in Venice overnight, mayor Luigi Brugnaro confirmed on Thursday, adding that the multi-lingual booking system will be operating from 16 January.

The dates when the entry fee will be in place are: 25 April to 5 May and every other weekend in May (11-12, 18-19, 25-26 May), the last four weekends in June (8-9, 15-16, 22-23, 29-30 June) and the first two weekends in July (6-7, 13-14 July).

On these days, the entry fee system will be effective from 08.30 to 16.00, with penalties of up to €300 for violating the rules.

After day-trippers pay the fee they will receive a QR code "which will be checked randomly" at eight access gates to the historic centre, Brugnaro is quoted as saying by ANSA news agency.

Ecco in sintesi la sperimentazione del contributo d’accesso a #Venezia per il 2024.

29 giorni con importo unico di 5€ e nessuna soglia oltre alla quale aumenterà l’importo.

Cuore del sistema sarà piattaforma multicanale e multilingua, raggiungibile all’indirizzo… pic.twitter.com/4ZMLB7jyV7

— Luigi Brugnaro (@LuigiBrugnaro) November 23, 2023

"It is an experiment that has never been done anywhere in the world" - Brugnaro told reporters - "The city is complex and fragile, but it is alive, and we have the obligation to take measures because in the historic centre, at certain times of the year, there is crowding that we must reduce."

Brugnaro underlined that the trial measure "will cost us more than we will earn" and is "to evaluate the bookability of the city, which will never be closed".

The move, first mooted a few years ago and stalled several times due to the covid pandemic and various logistic obstacles, is designed to ease the pressure on the fragile lagoon city from hordes of tourists.

The entry fee system, approved by the city council on 12 September, will be trialled on days around key public holidays in the spring and summer.

Residents of the surrounding Veneto region and visitors under the age of 14 will reportedly be exempt from paying the fee.

Venice tourism councillor Simone Venturini said in September that the aim of the entry fee is to encourage day-trippers to choose off-peak days for their visit, adding that the city needs to test the system first and "if needed, improve it."

Venturini said the entry fee system would position Venice as a "trailblazer on a global level", as the city seeks to find a "new balance between the rights of those who live, study or work in Venice, and those who visit the city".

In September Venice escaped being declared an endangered world heritage site by UNESCO which had warned of "irreversible damage" from climate change and mass tourism, blaming Italian authorities for a "lack of strategic vision" and not doing enough to protect the canal city.

Photo credit: Oleg Senkov / Shutterstock.com.