By Christoph Sator

Venice - You now have to pay admission again to visit Venice - and more than ever before. Since this Good Friday, day tourists have to pay up to ten euros if they want to stroll through the Italian lagoon city on the Adriatic for a few hours. At the premiere of the globally unique model last year, it was only half the price.

The regulation initially applies continuously on all days until the first weekend in May, then on all weekends from Friday to Sunday until the end of July. Admission is then free again during the week, as it is for most of the rest of the year. A total of 54 days have to be paid for this year.

That is also almost twice as much as last year. Payment is usually made by obtaining a QR code online before arrival and downloading it onto your cell phone.

In 2024, Venice was the first city in the world to start charging admission to short-term visitors - just like in a museum. Anyone without a ticket runs the risk of having to pay a fine of up to 300 euros. So far, however, this has hardly deterred anyone.

On the contrary: visitor numbers to the city, which is more than one and a half millennia old and has suffered badly from mass tourism, have continued to rise.

In principle, everything is now the same as last year - except that you now have to pay more often and more. If you book early, you can still enter the city for five euros.

However, those who wait until three days before their visit (or even longer) will have to pay twice as much in future. Overnight guests still do not have to pay admission, but they do have to pay visitor's tax.

According to the authorities, 485,000 paying visitors were registered last year, which generated more than 2.4 million euros for the city.

However, this also means that many day tourists avoided paying.

In addition, backpackers in particular only came after 4 p.m., when there is no longer a fee to pay.

The costs of developing and operating the system are far from covered.

However, the influx of visitors also caused major problems for the city. Today, the center with its hundreds of canals no longer has 50,000 inhabitants.

But there are more than 50,000 guest beds. More than 15 million visitors come every year. And the trend is rising. On many days, it is almost impossible to get through the narrow streets around St. Mark's Square and the Rialto Bridge.

However, many people have doubts as to whether the fee is worth it. Even ten euros is unlikely to deter many people from visiting.

The city continues to refrain from setting an upper limit on when Venice will be closed due to too many visitors.