courtesy of PRESS OFFICE OF THE COMUNE OF VENICE

The City of Venice will enforce a new tourist tax for visitors staying overnight, starting from August 24th (with no retrospective effect). The decision was taken by the City Council last June 23rd, when the new tax regulations were approved, after the Italian Government passed the national law on "Regulations on the subject of municipal federalism", according to which local authorities are entitled to enforce tourist taxes in order to finance tourism, maintenance of cultural heritage sites and environment, as well as public services.

The tax, which will not be charged on residents, will be levied on the first five consecutive nights of any overnight stay. Tariffs will vary according to season (there will be two fares, one for low and one for high season), location (three areas have been identified: Venice old town, the islands and the mainland) and to the type of accommodation (hotels, b&b, campsites, holiday village, etc). In fact, there is a series of tax reductions foreseen for accommodation facilities located on the islands in the Lagoon (30%) or on the mainland (40%) and during low season (up to 50%). Children aged between 10 and 16 will pay half the tax fare, whereas those under 10 will not be charged at all.

But not only small children will be exempted from tourist taxation: no tax will be paid by those staying in youth hostels or other facilities owned by the City of Venice; by those assisting people admitted to local hospitals; by tourist bus drives and tour leaders of larger groups (25 people at least); by volunteer and security forces on duty. Reductions will be cumulative: each discount percentage will be applied to the full tax fare one after another.

Venice, July 20th 2011 / sc-cv