Simone Venturini, a senior Venice official, said the city had proposed doubling the tourist fee to 10 euros by 2025, after a trial of 5 euros this summer.

Venice has been charging visitors since April 25 on 29 peak days of the year, mainly weekends from May to July, from 8am to 4pm. Visitors arriving before and after this time, staying overnight, and residents or visitors to the city for work are exempt. Local authorities say the fee is “not a money-making tool for the city” but is used for a variety of social purposes.

The money collected from the toll is used to improve the living environment, essential services, clean up trash, maintain and stabilize prices. Those who deliberately evade the toll will be severely punished, but so far no one has been arrested. City officials said they wanted this trial to be "launched gently" and not too harsh on tourists.

City councillor Giovanni Andrea Martini said the tourist fee was a failure. Doubling the fee to 10 euros was “absolutely useless” because it would turn Venice into a museum where everyone would have to pay a ticket.

Over the weekend, protesters gathered outside the Santa Lucia train station to protest the tourist fee, saying it has done nothing to reduce visitor numbers and has even attracted more. During the 11 days the fee was introduced, an average of 75,000 people visited each day, up from 10,000 a day during the same period in 2023. Venice currently has around 50,000 beds, an all-time low.

Venice, which consists of more than 100 large and small islands located in northeastern Italy, is considered one of the most beautiful cities in the world and was recognized by UNESCO as a World Heritage Site in 1987. In 2023, Venice "escaped" being placed on UNESCO's list of endangered heritage sites after the local government applied an entrance fee policy effective from April 25.

In 2021, Venice imposed a ban on large cruise ships carrying thousands of passengers, rerouting them to a more distant industrial port and imposing a tax on overnight guests.