Visiting Venice will now cost an extra few Euros even if you don't stay overnight. The Italian city's council has approved a visitors' tax, brought in as part of the 2019 budget, which will target daytrippers and help to pay for essential services like rubbish collection and cleaning. Day tourists will be charged €3 for the rest of 2019, to double next year. Variations for high and low traffic days mean the tax will range from €3 to €10.
Anyone born in Venice, studying, living or working there will be exempt, as will children under six years old and people visiting family.
Tourists will have to go to transport and tourism agencies to pay the tax.
Although Venice has not stated how it will enforce the tax, anyone flouting it could face a fine of €450.
Only about one-fifth of all visitors to the city spend at least one night in the historic centre.
The iconic make-up of the city means maintenance and security costs are extremely high, and the mayor Luigi Brugnaro said the substantial costs have so far been paid "only by Venetians."
According to city officials, maintaining public buildings in Venice costs a third more than it does on the mainland, with vital materials and equipment having to be brought in by boat and much of the cleaning done by hand.
