Venice's tourist tax trial ends: Why are critics calling it a 'failure' and how many people paid it?

Venice's tourist tax trial earned the lagoon city €2.2 million, so why is it being branded a 'failure'?

“The ticket is a failure, as demonstrated by city data,” says Giovanni Andrea Martini, an opposition city council member.

The daytripper fee drew many opponents over the years it took the city to get it up and running. After years of delays, some due to Covid, visitors have been charged €5 on 29 days this year, mostly weekends and holidays.

Authorities have said the levy will continue and could be doubled for 2025, bringing it up to €10.

Over the weekend, several dozen activists gathered outside Venice's Santa Lucia train station to protest the €5 levy that they say did little to dissuade visitors from arriving on peak days, as envisioned.

Over the first 11 days of the trial period, an average of 75,000 visitors were recorded in the city. Opposition city council member Martini said that is 10,000 more each day than on three indicative holidays in 2023, citing figures provided by the city based on mobile phone data that tracks arrivals in the city.

The fee is “not a tool for making cash," the city said previously in a statement.

Aside from the costs of running the system, any proceeds from the entry fees will go towards services that help the residents of the city. These include maintenance, cleaning and reducing living costs.

When Venice imposed the long-discussed daytripper tax, it helped to stop UNESCO from "blacklisting" the city for a lack of upkeep.

Opponents of the plan say the tax has failed to make the city more liveable for residents, as intended, with the narrow walkways and water taxis as crowded as ever.

They want policies that encourage repopulation of Venice’s historic centre, which has been losing residents to