Venice's experiment with charging visitors to enter the city is heading for a shake-up. Local authorities are considering extending the number of days the fee applies and pushing the daily charge up to as much as €30 from 2027 — and there has even been talk of €50.

The scheme started in 2024 as a €5 charge on 29 peak days. It doubled for last-minute bookers, stretched to 54 days in 2025, then hit a record 60 days in 2026. Despite all that, city officials say it has not done enough to ease the pressure of mass tourism on the lagoon city.

Budget councillor Michele Zuin told regional daily Il Gazzettino that the current €5-10 fee is simply "too democratic" — cheap enough that it deters almost nobody. Mayor Simone Venturini agrees the €10 level has failed on the busiest days, but prefers a dynamic pricing model where the charge rises with demand rather than a blanket increase.

There is money involved, too. Venturini points out that maintaining Venice physically costs around €100 million a year, funded by residents and partly by tourist taxes — with no contribution from the EU, the Italian state or, as he puts it, international critics. Overnight guests already pay a separate tourist tax of €1-5 per person per night; the entry fee targets day-trippers only.

The 2026 season did generate more than €5.2 million from nearly 680,000 tickets. And there are early signs the charge may be nudging behaviour: average tickets sold per charging day fell 32.3% versus 2024, and days with over 20,000 paid entries dropped from four in 2024 to just one in 2026 — even though charging days more than doubled. The municipality cautions the data is provisional, though, and weather, holidays and general demand all need factoring in before crediting the fee alone.

Any 2027 pricing still has to be agreed with the national government, so nothing is final. But if you are planning a Venice day trip in the next couple of years, assume it will cost more than it does now — and book early, since last-minute visitors already pay double. Overnight stays remain the workaround of sorts: hotel guests pay the nightly tax instead of the entry fee, and they get the city at its best, after the day crowds leave. Whatever the final number, the direction of travel is clear: Venice intends to make peak-day visiting genuinely expensive.