More info on Venice fee starting 2024

[little britain]

https://www.cntraveler.com/story/venice-day-trip-visitor-fee by Jessica Puckett

 

According to the schedule, there are 29 days on which day-trippers will be charged to enter Venice in 2024. Most of them fall on weekends during the high season from April to July, with some weekdays included during April and May. The fee will apply between 8:30 a.m. and 4 p.m., which are considered the city’s busiest hours.

 

…exempt from the charge include travelers staying in a hotel within Venice (who already pay a similar tax each night), 

[Chadr135]

Thanks for posting this, I was unaware! We are staying in Venice for two nights prior to our cruise departing out of Ravenna next summer. It looks like we will still have to generate a QR code but will be exempt from the fee. Thanks again!

[jgsterling]

On 12/10/2023 at 5:14 PM, Chadr135 said:

Thanks for posting this, I was unaware! We are staying in Venice for two nights prior to our cruise departing out of Ravenna next summer. It looks like we will still have to generate a QR code but will be exempt from the fee. Thanks again!

We are planning to stay in Venice for two nights as well prior to our cruise in August.  I have not picked a hotel yet.  What hotel have you selected?

[Hlitner]

Absolutely ridiculous and just so "Italy!."  A majority of day trippers arrive on tour buses that are part of various tours.  A 5 Euro tax is not going to stop those folks, and the extra hassles are....well just more hassles.  Italy has a track record of creating their own tourist problems (i.e. unforced error) and then making the situation even worse with their awful solutions.  My favorite example is the villages of Cinque Terre.  Italy went through some trouble to open up La Spezia, as a major cruise destination, so they could flood Riomaggiore and the other villages with thousands of more day trippers.  Once the Italians realized that Cinque Terre was being overrun, they built gates on the approach road (to the villages) with the idea that they could later close the roads to limit road traffic to destinations that they had promoted!  Go figure.  Of course, even if they do close a road, the boats and trains will continue to bring day trippers.

 

Another great example is how Italy made vast improvements to the cruise port at Venice.  They even added the fabulous "People Mover" designed to make it easier for folks to move between the cruise port (Maritima) and town.  Once they created all this over tourism, they decided to effectively close the cruise port and move ships to other ports which will create an even bigger transportation problem!  It is all true insanity which is part of the reason why DW and I love visiting Italy :).

 

Hank

[little britain]

More Venice proposed changes. Makes ships tours smaller!!!

 

 

Venice to ban large tourist groups and loudspeakers https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-europe-67851201 by George Wright and Adam Durbin

 

[Hlitner]

On 12/31/2023 at 3:33 AM, little britain said:

More Venice proposed changes. Makes ships tours smaller!!!

 

 

Venice to ban large tourist groups and loudspeakers https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-europe-67851201 by George Wright and Adam Durbin

 

Sounds like a great idea :).  Nothing wrong with large tourist groups if they are broken up into smaller groups.  But really large groups, with a guide blasting out information via a loudspeaker, are very annoying to others in the area.  And when you have multiple large groups, each with a guide blasting out information, it is even more annoying.

[Fairgarth]

On 12/27/2023 at 8:02 AM, Hlitner said:

Another great example is how Italy made vast improvements to the cruise port at Venice.  They even added the fabulous "People Mover" designed to make it easier for folks to move between the cruise port (Maritima) and town.  Once they created all this over tourism, they decided to effectively close the cruise port and move ships to other ports which will create an even bigger transportation problem!  It is all true insanity which is part of the reason why DW and I love visiting Italy :).

 

I find it ironic that Venice actually builds these huge cruise ships at the Fincantieri yard, chases them away and says don't come back.  But I still love visiting Italy 🙂🙂

[Hlitner]

2 minutes ago, Fairgarth said:

 

I find it ironic that Venice actually builds these huge cruise ships at the Fincantieri yard, chases them away and says don't come back.  But I still love visiting Italy 🙂🙂

Lots of irony to the entire "overtourism" issue.  We are on a spring TA cruise that will eventually end in Trieste.  When we were starting to plan what we wanted to do, in Europe, after the cruise, DW said to me, "no need to go to Venice!"  Both of us really like Venice and have been there many times on both cruises and on our long driving trips.  But this year, we will focus on driving to parts of Croatia and Austria as we seek out places that are not completely overrun with fellow tourists.  Speaking of Croatia, we still remember going to Dubrovnik when it was not an overcrowded place (enhanced by multiple cruise ships).  Croatia actually became a very hot tourist destination as Europeans sought places not completely packed with tourists.  Now, Croatia has been "discovered" and is also suffering from too many folks.  

 

We keep seeking out areas that are great tourist destinations without hordes of tourists, but it becomes increasingly difficult to find these places.  When we are on land, often doing independent driving trips, we have learned to stay far away from most cruise ports :).  When cruise ships held 1000 souls, the ships were not a major issue.  But now, with more ships in the 3000+ category, the cruise industry has really contributed to the overcrowding of a small number of places.  The only saving grace for us is that a majority of cruisers still prefer to be on large group excursions, and we can work at avoiding those groups.  But as more discover the joys of independent travel, it is going to have an adverse impact on the availability of public transit, rental cars, etc.

 

Hank