A POPULAR European city break destination is likely to hike up the costs of its tourist tax, due to it not being effective enough this year. On Sunday, Venice ended a pilot program that charged day-trippers an entrance fee. 5 Venice trialled a new city tax to try and prevent people visiting the city in huge numbers Credit: AP 5 Tourist numbers did not fall as much as they were expected to during the trial Credit: Splash 5 The tax could be doubled next year to dissuade people from going Credit: AFP 5 Locals have protested against the fee saying it has been a failure Credit: AP It raised more than €2m (£1.
6m), leaving city officials keen to extend the levy . However, opponents and some locals have labelled the experiment a failure, due to the fact it didn't reduce tourist levels as much as it hoped. Dozens of activists gathered outside the Santa Lucia train station on Saturday to protest the €5 (£4.
20) levy, claiming it did little to stop visitors from arriving in their numbers on peak days. Giovanni Andrea Martini, an opposition city council member, said it was a failure, according to city data. During the first 11 days of the trial period, an average of 75,000 visitors were recorded in the city.
Martini said that number is 10,000 more than each day than on three indicative holidays in 2023, citing figures provided by the city based on mobile phone data tracking arrivals. Venice introduced the day-tripper tax for 29 days this year, mostly weekends and holidays, from Apri.
