Visitors to Venice, Italy will have to pay an entrance fee starting next year

Tourists planning to visit Venice, Italy, and its historic canals should prepare to pay an extra fee starting in the spring of next year.

The city's officials have committed to a 30-day "experiment" of charging visitors to the city 5 euros to enter on peak days if they're not staying the night, mayor Luigi Brugnaro said on social media.

The fee will apply to all visitors over the age of 14. Exemptions exist for locals, commuters, and those with second homes in the city, among other groups.

According to a news release from the City of Venice, "the experimentation for 2024 will last around 30 days, which will be defined by the council with a special calendar in the coming weeks."

The goal of the experiment is to discourage daily tourism in certain periods, such as spring bridges and summer weekends, according to the release.

Brugnaro said on social media that while it is necessary to regulate tourist flows, this does not mean the city will close.

"#Venezia will always remain open to everyone," he said on X, the platform formerly known as Twitter.

PANTHEON ENTRANCE FEE: Tourists in Rome will soon be charged a Pantheon entrance fee to the church and government

PAY FOR ENTRY: US travelers will soon have to pay a fee to enter the United Kingdom

'Balance between housing and tourism'

"The message we want to give is that Venice is accessible, open, but visitors, both national and international, must understand that planning is needed to better manage the balance between housing and tourism," said Michele Zuin, the councilor for the budget.

According to CNN, city authorities had been debating a “contributo di accesso” (access fee) for all daytrippers, throughout the year, on a sliding scale from 3 euros to 10 euros.

In March, Italian culture and church officials signed an agreement in which tourists in Rome visiting the Pantheon will be charged a 5-euro entrance fee.

Culture Minister Gennaro Sangiuliano said the move was a matter of "good sense." The introduction of an entrance fee comes five years after a previous government shelved plans to start charging visitors 2 euros.

In February, the United Kingdom announced that U.S. citizens will soon have to apply for permission and pay a small fee to enter as part of the country's Electronic Travel Authorization scheme.

The travel fee is meant to secure the U.K.'s borders by giving them more accurate data on who is passing through, according to a U.K. official for the British Consulate General. The move is part of the U.K.'s plan to fully digitize its borders by 2025.

Contributing: Kathleen Wong, USA TODAY; Associated Press

This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Venice, Italy will start charging visitors an entrance fee in 2024