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Venice to begin charging entry fee from July 2020

Venice says it will start charging day-trippers to enter its packed historic centre from next summer, with fees as high as €10 planned for peak season.

Published: 25 October 2019 10:59 CEST

Venice to begin charging entry fee from July 2020

Tourists have just eight months left to visit Venice for free. Photo: Ludovic Marin/AFP

The city's council on Thursday approved plans to introduce a 'contributo di accesso' (landing fee) from July 1st, 2020.

FOR MEMBERS: Italy's 'tourist tax': What is it and who has to pay?

The charge, which will only apply to tourists not staying overnight, is set at €3 standard rate, rising to €6 on busier days and €8 on the very busiest.

From 2021 the rates will rise to €6 standard rate and €8-10 on peak days, though visitors will get a discount in off-peak season to €3.

Meanwhile cruise ships and other vessels bringing day-trippers in by sea will pay a flat rate of €5 per person per day in 2020, rising to €7 the following year.

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The plan to charge the 12 million tourists who visit Venice each year was first announced in December 2018, with officials estimating that it could bring in an extra €50 million a year.

But the scheme has been repeatedly pushed back as the council works out the logistics, including how and where people will pay, as well as who will be exempt.

Those living, working or studying in Venice will not have to pay, the council says. Nor will tourists staying overnight, who already pay a 'tourist tax' collected by their accommodation.

Venice has already installed turnstiles to regulate entry to its most crowded areas. Photo: Andrea Pattaro/AFP

The new charge is unlikely to prompt anyone to cancel their trip, but the council says it will provide extra funds to help pay for maintenance and security in the fragile city centre.

It plans to install a network of ticket machines throughout Venice and the surrounding islands where day-trippers can purchase entry, with fines of several hundred euros threatened for anyone who fails to pay.

The scheme has faced pushback from tour operators, who are expected to pass the charge onto their customers, as well as from critics who say it will punish the tourists upon whom Venice's economy depends.

READ ALSO: 'Tourism is killing Venice, but it's also the only key to survival'

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German train strike wave to end following new labour agreement

“The German Train Drivers’ Union (GDL) and Deutsche Bahn have reached a wage agreement,” GDL said in a statement.

Further details will be announced in a press conference on Tuesday, the union said. A spokesman for Deutsche Bahn also confirmed that an agreement had been reached.

Train drivers have walked out six times since November, causing disruption for huge numbers of passengers.

The strikes have often lasted for several days and have also caused disruption to freight traffic, with the most recent walkout in mid-March.

In late January, rail traffic was paralysed for five days on the national network in one of the longest strikes in Deutsche Bahn’s history.

READ ALSO: Why are German train drivers launching more strike action?

Europe’s largest economy has faced industrial action for months as workers and management across multiple sectors wrestle over terms amid high inflation and weak business activity.

The strikes have exacerbated an already gloomy economic picture, with the German economy shrinking 0.3 percent across the whole of last year.

What we know about the new offer so far

Through the new agreement, there will be optional reduction of a work week to 36 hours at the start of 2027, 35.5 hours from 2028 and then 35 hours from 2029. For the last three stages, employees must notify their employer themselves if they wish to take advantage of the reduction steps.

However, they can also opt to work the same or more hours – up to 40 hours per week are possible in under the new “optional model”.

“One thing is clear: if you work more, you get more money,” said Deutsche Bahn spokesperson Martin Seiler. Accordingly, employees will receive 2.7 percent more pay for each additional or unchanged working hour.

According to Deutsche Bahn, other parts of the agreement included a pay increase of €420 per month in two stages, a tax and duty-free inflation adjustment bonus of €2,850 and a term of 26 months.

Growing pressure

Last year’s walkouts cost Deutsche Bahn some €200 million, according to estimates by the operator, which overall recorded a net loss for 2023 of €2.35 billion.

Germany has historically been among the countries in Europe where workers went on strike the least.

But since the end of 2022, the country has seen growing labour unrest, while real wages have fallen by four percent since the start of the war in Ukraine.

German airline Lufthansa is also locked in wage disputes with ground staff and cabin crew.

Several strikes have severely disrupted the group’s business in recent weeks and will weigh on first-quarter results, according to the group’s management.

Airport security staff have also staged several walkouts since January.

Some politicians have called for Germany to put in place rules to restrict critical infrastructure like rail transport from industrial action.

But Chancellor Olaf Scholz has rejected the calls, arguing that “the right to strike is written in the constitution… and that is a democratic right for which unions and workers have fought”.

The strikes have piled growing pressure on the coalition government between Scholz’s Social Democrats, the Greens and the pro-business FDP, which has scored dismally in recent opinion polls.

The far-right AfD has been enjoying a boost in popularity amid the unrest with elections in three key former East German states due to take place later this year.

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