Venice’s council has confirmed that its daytripper fee, introduced in summer 2024, will return once again in 2026.
Next year, the number of days that the levy will be in place has been extended to 60, compared to 54 in 2025.
The tax aims to curb ‘hit and run’ daytripper tourism that frequently overwhelms the small city during its busiest months and brings little benefit to its inhabitants.
But this year’s figures show day visitor numbers dropped only slightly compared to last year, despite the fee. Peak dates attracted nearly 25,000 tourists – the equivalent of half the resident population of Venice.
Venice daytripper tax will return in 2026
In 2026, daytrippers will be required to pay from Friday to Sunday in April, May, June, and July.
The specific dates that the system will be active are:
April: 3, 4, 5, 6, 10, 11, 12, 17, 18, 19, 24, 25, 26, 27, 28, 29, 30; May: 1, 2, 3, 8, 9, 10, 15, 16, 17, 22, 23, 24, 29, 30, 31; June: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 12, 13, 14, 19, 20, 21, 26, 27, 28; July: 3, 4, 5, 10, 11, 12, 17, 18, 19, 24, 25, 26.
As in 2025, the daytripper fee will be in force during peak hours from 8.30 am until 4 pm. Outside of those hours, access is free.
A host of exemptions apply. Those who don’t have to pay the tax include residents, Venetian-born visitors, students and workers, as well as tourists who have hotel or other lodging reservations.
Visitors can ‘reserve’ their day in Venice on a dedicated platform.
Day trippers get a QR code that is checked at spot controls at seven access points around the city, including the main train station.
Visitors with hotel reservations enter their hotel information and will also get a QR code to show at checkpoints. They don’t have to pay, however, since their hotel bill will already include a Venice lodging fee.
Although the council has confirmed the fee is returning for 2026, they have not yet determined the cost.
In 2025, tourists who didn’t make reservations up to four days in advance had to pay €10 instead of the usual €5.
Why has Venice introduced a daytripper fee?
Venice has long suffered under the pressure of overtourism.
Activists sounded a warning last summer when the number of tourist beds officially overtook the number of residents, which has dwindled to under 50,000 in a trend that has now been going on for decades.
They said the imbalance drains the city of services, clogging its tight alleyways and water buses with suitcase-toting tourists and pushing residents to relocate to the mainland.
Authorities say the access fee system is key to easing this pressure.
“It represents a useful tool for managing tourist flows and ensuring a better balance between residents and visitors,” says councillor Michele Zuin.
“It remains an experimental measure, which we are carefully evaluating and which has already attracted international interest. Venice is the first city in the world to have undertaken this path.”
But this year’s figures show day visitor numbers dropped only slightly compared to last year.
The daily average number of visitors who paid the daytripper fee was only marginally less, at 13,046 in 2025 compared to 16,676 in 2024.
As the city council itself acknowledges, this is also in line with a region-wide decline in tourist numbers recorded by the Regional Statistics Office.
On the busiest day, Friday 2 May, 24,951 visitors paid the daytripper fee, a striking number equivalent to over half the resident population.
Source: euronews.com
