Travel
Venice tourist tax: Everything you need to know about booking tickets in 2024
After delaying the launch, city officials have given a new timeline from when daytrippers will have to pre-book their visit and pay a fee.
Daytrippers to Venice will soon have to pay for the privilege, as the city brings in its delayed tourist tax.
The city council has finally greenlit the policy, which is designed to tackle overtourism problems plaguing the visitor hotspot.
The booking system is launching with a 30-day trial on spring and summer weekends in 2024.
It was due to start in January 2023, but has reportedly been delayed over logistical issues and fears it will hit tourist revenue.
Here’s what we know so far about how the new tourist tax will work.
Who has to book a ticket to visit Venice?
Travellers planning on visiting the historic city of Venice will have to register their visit, although those staying the night do not have to pay the entry fee.
Visitors arriving by both public transport and private methods must pre-book.
Those visiting the surrounding islands such as Burano and Murano will also have to register and pay. Only one ticket and payment is required for those travelling to multiple islands, including Venice.
Some daytrippers are exempt from paying the entry fee, although they will still have to book. These include residents of the Veneto region, students, and those visiting family members in the city.
The local council has previously emphasised that there will be no limit to visitor numbers, only an increase in the entry fee should a certain number of visitors be reached on a particular day.
When will visitors have to pay to visit Venice?
The council executive agreed on Tuesday (5 September) to a 30-day trial. This will likely be spread out across public holidays and weekends in the spring and summer of 2024.
Final approval of the plan is expected to come on 12 September, when the wider city council meets.
How can visitors book tickets for Venice?
An online booking system in multiple languages will be made available for visitors to pre-book their trip to Venice.
Upon booking, visitors will receive a QR code that acts as their ticket and should be shown to ticket controllers.
For those arriving by public transport, there may be the possibility to buy the entry pass at the same time as the travel ticket.
If this service is not available, public transport operators will make announcements to passengers reminding them of the requirement to book.
Visitors are encouraged to book in advance as ticket prices could be lower.
How much will visitors have to pay to visit Venice?
The cost of tickets will initially be €5 during the trial period.
In particularly busy periods, visitors will probably be required to pay higher sums. This will occur when the number of visitors booking to arrive in the city goes over a certain threshold, which has not yet been announced.
There will also be some periods when visitors must book, but will not be required to pay. This will happen when very low numbers of daytrippers are arriving in the city.
How will tickets be checked?
Ticket controllers will be spread throughout the historic city checking visitors’ tickets or proof of exemption.
Authorities are also considering introducing turnstiles at some access points to the city such as the railway station.
What if I forget to buy my ticket for Venice?
Venice authorities have said there will be notices and announcements at entry points to the city such as the bus terminal in Piazzale Roma or the railway station to remind visitors to book their tickets.
Visitors who arrive without having booked and paid will have to pay the full €10 fee and are subject to fines from €50 to €300.
What will the entry fee go towards?
The fee is “not a tool for making cash,” the city said 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.
Travel
Budget sightseeing: The most scenic bus routes in Britain for less than €3
The discount fares can be purchased this week, until 21 April, on journeys up until 12 May.
If you fancy seeing some of Britain’s top sights on the cheap, this is the month to book some leave.
Travel tech company FlixBus is celebrating its 3rd anniversary in the UK by offering £2 (€2.34) tickets for coach services across England, Scotland and Wales.
The discount fares can be purchased this week, until 21 April, on journeys up until 12 May.
This year, FlixBus added connections to the city of Inverness as part of its Scottish Network, which will be included in the deal.
The company says it aims to make coach travel “as sustainable and affordable as possible”.
It recently launched an electric, long-distance, zero-emission route between Newport, Bristol and London.
Here are five of the best journeys available on the £2 offer.
Escape to the Scottish Highlands
Visitors seeking bracing air and epic scenery can take a four-hour bus from Glasgow to Inverness, stopping on the way in Perth.
The city of Inverness is considered the gateway to the Scottish Highlands.
From here, you can strike out into the countryside and lose yourself in heather-carpeted glens and granite mountains.
Journey back in time to the historic city of York
This route takes travellers from the city of Manchester to the historic heart of York in northern England. The journey takes two hours and 40 minutes, stopping at Bradford and Leeds on the way.
York is one of the UK’s cultural hotspots, home to the UNESCO-designated York Minster, a Gothic behemoth from the 13th century with medieval stained glass windows.
If it’s a sunny day, take a walk around the city walls – a reminder of York’s Roman past.
Harry Potter fans should leave time to stroll down the Shambles, a street of charmingly crooked half-timbered houses that bely its macabre past as a slaughterhouse.
Visit the vibrant city of Manchester
This route travels between the city of Birmingham and the city of Manchester passing through Stoke On Trent and stopping at Manchester Airport.
The two-hour and 45-minute trip gives travellers access to one of the UK’s trending tourist destinations.
Once the hub of the Industrial Revolution, Manchester is now home to a buzzing music scene, warehouses transformed into popups and co-working spaces and the unmissable Gay Village along Canal Street.
Chill out in the Cairngorms National Park
A three-hour bus from Glasgow takes travellers through the attractive Scottish towns of Perth and Pitlochry to Aviemore in the heart of the Cairngorms National Park.
Nature lovers will find ancient forests, secluded lochs and a funicular whisking you up to sublime valley views.
Travel
‘An excess of tourism’: Lake Como to introduce daytripper fee to curb visitor numbers
This Italian lakeside city wants to impose a daily visitor fee.
Lake Como is glitzy, glamorous and engulfed by tourism.
The third largest lake in Italy, it sees as many as 1.4 million visitors a year descend on its shores.
The tourist numbers are proving overwhelming for the holiday hotspot in northern Italy, and one city is now considering introducing a tourist tax.
Mayor of the lakeside city of Como Alessandro Rapinese says he is mulling a Venice-style daily charge with suggestions that it could come into force soon.
Lake Como to introduce a daytripper fee
Rapinese has lambasted Lake Como’s overtourism saying it is “difficult to be mayor when you are fighting tourism”.
“We are already discussing the idea[ofa[ofatourist tax]. Revolutions begin with concrete measures and we are ready for this long journey,” he told UK newspaper The Times.
The fee would apply to daily visitors to the city of Como.
The mayor has not shared any further details about how much the fee will be, who will have to pay and when it will come into force.
If he uses the Venice model, the charge will apply to daytrippers (not those who have booked overnight accommodation in the city) and may be levied only on busy days like weekends and public holidays.
Lake Como battles overtourism
The chic lake has been struggling with soaring tourist numbers in recent years.
Crowds have boomed since several celebrities including George Clooney purchased multi-million euro properties along the shoreline and the lake provided a backdrop for films including Casino Royale and House of Gucci.
“I visited Lake Como last year and said I would never go back. Standards had dropped. Restaurants were disappointing in quality and price. Too many people to enjoy anything about the resort,” one visitor wrote on X.
Last summer, one lakeside villa which appeared in James Bond and Star Wars films was forced to limit visitor numbers.
Villa del Balbianello cut daily entries from 2,000 to a maximum of 1,200 to protect the historic house.
The Italian Fund for the Environment (FAI), which runs the property, called it “a drastic decision” but essential to counter the effect of “an excess of tourism that has an ever greater impact on Lake Como”.
Travel
Istanbul, Dalaman, Izmir: Where to go with Türkiye’s new digital nomad visa
Applicants are accepted from most EU countries as well as the UK, USA and Canada.
Türkiye has become the latest country to launch a digital nomad visa for foreign remote workers.
The Turkish Culture and Tourism Ministry has created a dedicated website where those interested can complete the first application stages.
The country hopes to lure digital nomads to destinations including Istanbul, Dalaman on the southwestern coast and Izmir on the west.
“Thousand years old ancient cities, unique bays hidden between forests, turquoise seas, dynamic people, big cities; Türkiye has all,” the visa promotion reads.
“In addition, this beautiful country is one of the biggest countries of the world in terms of economy and business, with strong infrastructure services.”
Who is eligible for Türkiye’s digital nomad visa?
Those interested in Türkiye’s digital nomad visa need to be aged between 21 and 55. Applicants are accepted from most EU countries as well as the UK, USA and Canada.
Additional prerequisites include holding a university degree, having an employment or business contract and being able to prove a monthly income of $3,000 (€2,800) or an annual one of $36,000 (€33,800).
Applicants can register and upload their documents – including a passport with six-month validity and a photo – on the dedicated Digital Nomad GoTürkiye website.
If the application is accepted, you will be issued a Digital Nomad Identification Certificate which you can then take to a Turkish visa centre or consulate in your place of residence.
The best locations for digital nomads in Türkiye
The digital nomad website also promotes destinations around the country as prime spots for remote workers.
Istanbul is “a business centre with large companies and small start-ups, a metropole of 20 million inhabitants, a meeting point of different cultures [and] a historical centre where the paths of millennia-old civilisations converge.”
Digital nomads will find a strong transportation infrastructure with several metro and bus lines, and ferry journeys between its European and Asian sides, according to the website. It also says it is easy to find fully furnished apartments to rent.
Dalaman, on the Aegean coast, “offers great transportation options, an easy escape from the crowds, an impressive variety of free-time activities, and a strong infrastructure for those who want to work from this paradise on Earth.”
Izmir, also on the Aegean Sea, is ideal for those seeking year-round warmth and Blue Flag beaches.
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