Canadians could pay even more to visit a popular European destination
If Venice, Italy, is on your travel bucket list, you may want to visit sooner rather than later.
The popular Italian city is considering increasing its tourist access fee again as officials look for new ways to manage overcrowding.
Canadians and other tourists who visit St. Mark’s Basilica or take a gondola ride in Venice are already being charged an access fee of up to €10 (C$16) during certain hours of busy travel months like June and July.
Now, that fee is about to go up.
Budget and taxation councillor Michele Zuin told media the fee is essentially too low and “no longer has the deterrent effect” it was intended to have, and therefore wants to expand it.
Even Venice’s new mayor, Simone Venturini, agreed that the small fee had not done enough to deter visitors on peak days. The mayor added that the city wants to introduce a form of surge pricing, which would see the charge rise with demand on the busiest days.
According to local newspaper Il Gazzettino, Zuin said officials are considering raising the fee as high as €50 (about C$80) and extending it to cover a broader portion of the year.
Since the fee was first introduced in 2024, Venice recorded 5,876,797 tourist arrivals and 13,290,973 overnight stays that year.
According to Mayor Venturini, the city spends €100 million a year on physical maintenance.
In 2026, the fee took effect from April 3 to July 26, between the hours of 8:30 a.m. and 4 p.m., and raised more than €5.2 million for the city to put towards upkeep and crowd management.
Local authorities could ultimately cap the new fee at €30 (about C$48), but the final amount must still be discussed and agreed upon with the Italian government.
Canadians are also facing increasing tourist fees when visiting other popular destinations like Mexico.
Cruise ship passengers visiting Mexico who want to explore popular tourist sites are now facing a higher fee, which increased to US$10 (about C$14) on Aug. 1.
The fee is scheduled to gradually increase over the following years, rising to US$15 (about C$21) from July 1, 2027, to July 31, 2028, and then to US$21 (about C$29) from Aug. 1, 2028, onwards.
Canadians travelling to Japan are also paying a significant tourist tax, which got more expensive this year.
Japan’s International Tourist Tax increased to ¥3,000 (C$26) on July 1, with the money put towards restoring historical sites and improving infrastructure at tourist spots like Tokyo’s Senso-ji Temple.
For Canadians planning international trips, it may be worth keeping an eye on tourist taxes and access fees in each country, as they can add another cost to the total price of the vacation.