ROME (AP) — Venice will extend its day-tripper tax through next year, increasing the number of days on which tourists have to pay to enter the city and doubling the fee to 10 euros ($10.80) for last-minute visitors, city officials said on Thursday.
Mayor Luigi Brugnaro stressed that the tax aims to help the city and its citizens battle overtourism and avoid huge influxes of visitors during crowded holidays and weekends.
The new tax will be applied every Friday through Sunday and on holidays from April 18-July 27 of next year, for a total of 54 days. That's almost double the number of days it was applied this year. Tourists who don't make reservations up to four days in advance will pay 10 euros ($10.80) instead of the usual 5 euros ($5.40).
The tax will be in force during peak hours, from 8.30 a.m. to 4 p.m. Exemptions are granted to residents, Venetian-born visitors, students and workers, as well as tourists who have hotel or other lodging reservations.
At the end of the first test phase, last July, officials said the tax had netted 2.4 million euros ($2.6 million), accounting for about 1,000 entrances on each of the test days.
Brugnaro on Thursday again responded to critics who have called it a failure and said it did not deter as many arrivals as expected.
“Venice is the first city in the world that tries to manage the problem of overtourism. We obtained important results,” the mayor said.
But some citizens' groups and opposition councilors claim the access fee completely failed to control overtourism.
“Data offered by the control room show that on average during the period of implementation of the fee, we had about 7,000 more tourist entries than in previous years," said Giovanni Andrea Martini, an opposition councilor. “This shows that the access fee is not at all a system able to manage the flows.”
The world-famous lagoon city has long grappled with overwhelming influxes of tourists, with estimates based on cellphone data of 25 million to 30 million annual arrivals of day-trippers and overnight guests since 2020. The city's population is only about 50,000, according to the mayor.
The day-tripper tax, which was delayed by the pandemic, was heralded by UNESCO member states when they decided against recommending to place the city on a list of endangered world heritage sites. The city also escaped inclusion on the list two years earlier when it imposed a cruise ship ban down the Giudecca canal and through St. Mark’s Basin.
FILE - Activists gather outside Venice's Santa Lucia train station, July 13, 2024, to protest a day-tripper fee that they say has failed to dissuade visitors from arriving on peak days, as envisioned. (AP Photo/Colleen Barry, File)
Former President Donald Trump will be holding rallies in Tempe, Arizona, and Las Vegas on Thursday. Meanwhile, Vice President Kamala Harris will be holding a rally Thursday night in the Atlanta suburbs with former President Barack Obama and musician Bruce Springsteen.
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Speaking during a Thursday morning interview with conservative radio host Hugh Hewitt, Trump called the vice president’s performance “an embarrassment.”
“I watched her charade story last night on CNN,” Trump said during the friendly interview. “It was an embarrassment that she was running for president, representing a major party.”
The town hall with CNN was meant to replace a second debate between Trump and Harris. After one debate with Harris, the former president declined to participate in another debate and did not accept CNN’s invitation for a town hall.
Harris used the forum to lambast Trump before an audience of undecided voters in Pennsylvania. She agreed — twice — that Trump was a fascist, echoing the criticism of Trump’s longest-serving chief of staff, and said if Trump is elected again, he would be “a president who admires dictators and is a fascist.”
Trump returned to the town hall later in the interview, saying Harris was “like a child almost.”
The last time Donald Trump ran for president, the lawyers most directly involved in his efforts to overturn the election wound up sanctioned, criminally prosecuted or even sued for millions of dollars.
This time around, Republican party leaders are working to present a more organized, skilled legal operation even as Trump continues to deny he lost the 2020 election and sows doubt about the integrity of the upcoming one.
“It has been very important to make sure that in every aspect, we are going to have a fully professional operation,” RNC Chairman Michael Whatley told The Associated Press.
As Republicans and Democrats fight in court over election rules, the Trump team finds itself under a particularly intense microscope given the aftermath of the 2020 race when meritless legal efforts challenging the results were repeatedly rejected by judges appointed by presidents of both political parties.
▶ Read more about the Republican legal operation
His endorsement on Thursday marks another cross-party backing for the Democratic presidential nominee, who’s campaigned this week with Liz Cheney, the GOP former Wyoming congresswoman.
Both Upton and Cheney were among the House Republicans who voted to impeach Donald Trump after a mob of his supporters stormed the Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021.
Upton, who represented West Michigan and served in Congress for 36 years, said in a statement that Trump is “unfit to serve as commander in chief again.” Upton said he has already cast his ballot for Harris.
“Time and time again respected senior national Republicans have urged our former president to focus on governing rather than personal attacks, mistruths, and continued false 2020 election claims,” said Upton. “Instead of heeding that advice, we see unhinged behavior not acceptable in most forums almost daily.”
Republican presidential nominee former President Donald Trump gestures at a campaign rally Wednesday, Oct. 23, 2024, in Duluth, Ga. (AP Photo/Alex Brandon)
Democratic presidential nominee Vice President Kamala Harris speaks during a CNN town hall in Aston, Pa., Wednesday, Oct. 23, 2024. (AP Photo/Matt Rourke)
