Venice, Italy, introduced an entrance fee for day-trippers to manage over-tourism on the busiest days. The fee aims to reduce crowds in the historic city and preserve its fragile sites. This also includes visitors coming from cruise ships.
Venice’s new strategy against over-tourism
From 25 April 2024, Venice introduced an entrance fee for tourists visiting the city on selected high-traffic days in order to mitigate over-tourism. This fee applies to full-day visitors, including cruise ship passengers, except for those who are exempt, such as local residents, minors under the age of 14, and cruise passengers staying overnight.
Tourists will have to register online and receive a QR code, paying €5.00. This initiative is part of a wider strategy to encourage visits during less busy periods and ensure the preservation of Venice’s cultural heritage as a UNESCO World Site.
However, there is no limit to the number of people who can access the city each day. Venice witnessed leaps and bounds 30,000 to 40,000 people arriving daily during the spring and summer months. Most of the traffic descends on the main island, the Centro Storico, almost doubling the population of the island, which measures just over a square mile.
“The whole world would like to visit Venice and it is an honor for us. But not everyone in the world can do it on the same day“, he stated Simone Venturini, the city’s tourism adviser, told CBS News.
The charge will not apply to those traveling from late afternoon to the following morning, allowing flexibility for visitors arriving or departing outside peak hours. However, the fee affects cruise passengers who arrive for a day on ships calling in the area.
Understanding the effects of the tourist tax on cruise passengers
The Venice entrance fee is in effect from 8:30am to 4:00pm on 29 selected days in 2024. These periods are the peak times for ships to dock in port and for passengers to disembark for excursions.
Passengers arriving between April 25 and May 5; May 11 and 12, 18 and 19 and 25 and 26; June 8 and 9, 15 and 16, 22 and 23, 29 and 30; and 6 and 7 and 13 and 14 July you will have to pay €5.00 per person.
Exceptions are available for cruise passengers embarking or disembarking from Venice who have proof of overnight stays, as well as for persons with disabilities and their companions.
The first cruise scheduled to arrive on the specified days is on MSC Cruises MSC Sinfonia and MSC Lyricaeach weighing just over 65,000 gross tons and arriving on 27 April.
A symphony accommodates 2,646 passengers and 721 crew, many of whom also go ashore during calls. MSC Lyrica accommodates up to 1,984 passengers and 721 crew. If every person on a sold-out cruise disembarked for the day, this would result in €23,150 in access fees.
Read also: Norwegian cruise line abandons major port due to tender issues
The introduction of the fee was met with mixed reactions, with many arguing that it would not significantly deter tourists from arriving in the city. Protesters say the fee, without limits on the number of visitors, will turn Venice into a “theme park”. Residents marched through the main bus terminal and the entrance to Venice as the charge was introduced with banners reading “No to tickets, Yes to services and housing”.
This isn’t the first time Venice has made significant adjustments that have affected cruises. In August 2021 the city imposed a ban which specifically stops ships over 25,000 gross tons, longer than 180 meters and higher than 35 meters from the dock in the historic city center.
This regulation affected a wide group of cruise lines, notably Norwegian Cruise Line, MSC Cruises and Royal Caribbean. The ban diverted large cruise ships to nearby Porto Marghera.
