Venice's fee for day‑trippers sets trend: Lake Como may follow

Behind us is a historic weekend in Venice - the last before the introduction of fees for day-trippers. Although the first day of the new rules is still ahead of us, another Italian spot has announced that it is considering introducing - following Venice’s example - fees for people coming on a day trip.

As many as 60,000 tourists visited Venice last Sunday. Many wanted to take advantage of the last opportunity to visit the historic centre without a fee, which will come into effect any day now. Those who come to the famous city for just a few hours, without an overnight stay, will have to pay £4. This new rule will be introduced for 29 selected days between 25 April and 14 July, mainly weekends.

The fees in Venice are an unprecedented solution, but it is already known that other popular tourist spots will want to introduce similar rules.

Fees for day-trippers are seriously being considered by Alessandro Rapinese, the mayor of Como, by the famous lake of the same name.

Lake Como is a tourist hit in Northern Italy. There, you can find the fairytale-like Varenna with its narrow streets and serene atmosphere, the famous Bellagio, or Villa del Balbianello, where movies such as Star Wars and one of the Bond films were shot.

Also read: Magical places in Northern Italy

Finding a quiet spot by Como is increasingly difficult, affecting both residents and tourists. The third largest lake in Italy attracts as many as 1.4 million tourists a year.

This number is overwhelming, so Mayor Rapinese announces that he plans to introduce fees. The politician harshly criticized the situation over Lake Como, claiming that "it's hard to be a mayor when you're fighting tourism."

"We're already talking about fees. Revolutions start with concrete decisions, and we are ready for this long journey," said in an interview with "The Times."

The mayor has not yet provided any details. If he follows the Venetian model, the fee will apply to people travelling for one day (and not those who have booked accommodation in the city) and will be collected only on days with exceptionally high tourist traffic, such as weekends and holidays.

"I don't know what happened after the pandemic, but we no longer have enough space for all the tourists coming on Sunday," said Severino Beri, president of the hoteliers' association in Lecco by Lake Como, to the local press.

In recent weeks, there have been reports of long queues for the ferries sailing across the lake and people being pushed onto the tracks at the Como station due to the crowds.

"Day-trippers bring us no profits," added Beri. - All they bring are mountains of trash and great chaos. He added that due to the crowds, guests who would stay longer in hotels, thus providing work and income to the locals, might give up on visiting Como.

Last year, the famous Villa del Balbianello limited the daily number of entries from 2,000 to a maximum of 1,200. The Italian Fund for Environmental Protection (FAI), which manages the property, called this decision "drastic" but necessary to counteract the effects of "excessive tourism, which is increasingly affecting Lake Como".