The controversial entry fee for visitors will be introduced on May 1, 2019, at a flat rate of €3.
Tourists will be charged €3 in low season, €6 most of the year, €8 in high season and €10 on days of exceptional overcrowding, Venice Mayor Luigi Brugnaro announced on Monday.
Brugnaro’s administration hopes that by 2022, people will be reserving entry tickets in advance.
“It’s the only way to count the number of people visiting Venice,” Brugnaro said.
“No one will be denied access, but it will be more complicated for those who don’t book.”
Brugnaro added that the aim of the initiative is to manage overcrowding and “improve the quality of life of the citizens in the ancient city and on its islands”.
“We’re interested not in making money, but reaching 2022 with a good management of Venice’s tourist flows... a forecast of arrivals with real and not invented numbers,” he said.
The entry fee will provide funding to extra maintenance and security in the famous city, which attracts around 30 million visitors a year.
Those who don’t pay the fee will face fines of up to €400.
People living, working or studying in the city will be exempt from the fee.
From next year, the city plans to introduce further exemptions for visitors staying at least one night – who already pay a “tourist tax” collected by their accommodation – and those who buy a Venezia Unica entry pass for sites and public transport.
Exceptions are also expected to be made for children under seven years old, people with disabilities, relatives of residents, second-home owners, people who live in the Veneto region and members of the armed forces.
