European capitals, literally suffocating from an overabundance of tourists, continue to experiment with ways to regulate the tourist flow. For example, in Venice, where a tourist tax of five euros per person was introduced in the outgoing year, they decided to double it - despite the fact that in the current version the results of the introduction of the fee were, frankly, ambiguous: it was not possible to reduce the number of tourists during the test period with the help of this fee.
In general, the idea to establish a tourist tax came to a group of city deputies from one of the opposition factions back in 2019, but then, on the eve of local elections and elections of deputies of the European Parliament, the initiative was unanimously extinguished. The power in the regional council has changed, and in 2023 the idea of combating the invasion of thousands of tourists has returned.
The support of the party of the current Prime Minister of Italy ensured the desired results - and the collection, after a short discussion, was nevertheless introduced. The rate was agreed with immediately - 5 euros, but the tax period caused several fierce discussions. The idea of making the collection permanent was abandoned, instead it was decided to collect it on strictly defined days from April to July. In total, there were 29 such days, they coincided with the Venice Biennale, a large-scale event of the world of culture, which is held every two years and attracts tens of thousands of visitors from abroad.
The idea was as simple as a cabbage pie: to check how this fee will affect the number of tourists. It turned out that there was no way; On average, every day of the collection there was an excess of the number of guests compared to last year's figure by 7 thousand people!
Despite this seemingly disastrous result, officials of the Venice mayor's office believe that in 2025 the period of validity of the fee should be increased to 54 days. This will include weekends and holidays, as well as days when the number of tourists broke all records in 2024. The fee will be valid from mid-April to the end of July. Hotels will collect funds, the rate will be 10 euros per day, and they will not take money from all tourists in a row, but only from those who booked tickets less than 4 days in advance.
Minors, students, workers and urban residents will be exempt from the tax.
