Since a €5 entry fee has done little to solve Venice's tourist problem, the city's newly elected mayor Simone Venturini thinks a much bigger number might. He is proposing to raise the day-tripper charge to as much as €50 on peak days. That is a tenfold jump from what visitors currently pay, but the proposal still needs to clear the Italian national government and parliament before it becomes reality.
Venice has been charging day-trippers to enter the city since 2024, when it became the first tourist city in the world to introduce an entry fee. But the fee has come a long way since then.
It started at €5, applied to 29 peak dates between April and July. Not exactly a bold opening move. The following year the scheme expanded to 54 dates, with last-minute visitors charged double if they booked within three days of their visit. In 2026 the fee runs across 60 dates, payable online, with visitors receiving a QR code to present to checkpoint staff at the city's main entrance points, including Venice Santa Lucia train station.
The scheme pulled in €2.4 million in its first year, well above what the city expected. But critics of the scheme, especially residents in the north-eastern Italian city, say that is exactly the problem. If the money keeps coming in, tourists keep coming. They also point out that it makes Venice feel like a theme park rather than a place people actually live.
Others argue it is not day-trippers but overnight guests who do the most damage, dragging wheelie suitcases through narrow passages, pushing up housing costs through short-term rentals, and crowding locals out of gondola transport. UNESCO has previously warned that overtourism is a threat to Venice's World Heritage architecture and culture.
Venice's newly elected mayor Simone Venturini has heard enough. The rightwing former tourism councillor, elected in late May, ran on a pledge to raise the fee and is now making good on it.
The proposal would charge between €30 and €50 on the busiest days, kicking in once tourist booking numbers pass a set limit. Venturini calls the fee "the only effective tool to control daily visitor numbers" and says the higher charges would "finance city services and support the maintenance and protection of a unique city, built on water, whose costs exceed €100 million each year."
Also, inside city hall, budget councillor Michele Zuin is backing the idea. He told Italian newspaper Il Gazzettino there is "not much difference between €5 and €10" and that a bigger jump would actually change behavior. The data backs him up. Of the 514,710 fees paid in the first 42 days of the 2026 season, fewer than half paid in advance for the cheaper rate. Zuin also confirmed 2026 will be the third and final year of testing.
Since the proposal still needs government approval before it can take effect, no final decisions will be made before the end of the summer. After that, the city is considering extending the fee year-round or adding dates like Venice Carnival. Daniel Minotto, director of Venice's Association of Hoteliers, welcomed the proposal, calling it a potential incentive and disincentive for the most problematic days."
Not everyone will feel the change. Overnight hotel guests, children under 14, tourists from the Veneto region, students, and those entering for medical treatment are all exempt, though all must still register online.
Specifically, the fee targets day-trippers, those who come without a hotel booking and leave the same day.
The fee is paid online before you arrive and gives you a QR code to show at the entrance. No QR code, no entry, which means your phone needs to be working the moment you get there. Public Wi-Fi in Venice is patchy at best, and across Italy it is not much better. If you have no signal when you arrive, you are joining the paper queue.
So an eSIM activated before departure means you land already connected, no Wi-Fi hunting, no roaming bill on top of your entry fee.
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