Aytrippers to Venice will have to pay a fee to visit the Italian city, according to new rules announced Friday.
Officials said tourists who do not stay overnight will have to register online for the day and will pay a fee ranging from € 3 (£ 2.59) to € 10 (£ 8.62) per person.
The cost will depend on advance booking, whether it is high season or if the city is crowded.
If not paid, fines up to € 300 (£ 258) can be imposed. Those stopped by enforcers will have to show proof that they booked and paid with a QR code.
The new scheme will take effect from 16 January 2023.
As guests at hotels and pensions already pay an accommodation tax, they are exempt from the reserve and fee obligation.
This comes after vessels were banned in April 2021 from entering the center of the historic city.
Critics have argued that the ships are causing pollution and eroding the foundations of the city, which suffers from frequent floods.
The environmental challenges are partly why the number of Venetians living in the city has gradually declined – overwhelmed by congestion, the high cost of delivering food and other goods in motorless Venice, and frequent floods damaging homes and businesses.
St Mark’s Square flooded during high tide
/ REUTERSAbout four-fifths of all tourists come to the Italian holiday hotspot just for the day. In 2019, the last full year of tourism before the pandemic, there were 19 million day visitors.
The booking-and-fee approach was discussed a few years ago but was discontinued during the pandemic.
Covid-19 travel restrictions have led to the disappearance of tourism in Venice – leaving Venetians with their city virtually to themselves, for the first time in decades.
During the peak tourism season, tourist residents can exceed two to one, in the city which is two square miles in size.
Venice’s population is just over 50,000, a small fraction of what it was a few generations ago.
Exceptions to the day trip fees include children under six, people with disabilities and those who own holiday apartments in Venice, provided they can show proof that they are paying property taxes.