The authorities in Venice, Italy, plan to impose a fee on visitors wishing to enter it as early as next summer, in a measure that could reduce the tourist overcrowding it is suffocating.
A clause in a financial law voted on Saturday allowed local authorities in Venice to take money from visitors wishing to enter it, as in the Iole and Lampedusa islands of Sicily.
This fee will be imposed on all visitors, whether they want to stay in the city or not.
The fee is mainly aimed at visitors who do not spend more than one day in the city and do not pay any kind of fees, including tourists on cruise ships, from which they dock in Venice about 600 annually. Preliminary estimates suggest that this measure could cost the city 50 million euros a year, with the tax being between 2.5 euros and 10 euros.