Venice officials defend day-tripper tax, but delay the decision on extending it

Venice city officials say the day-tripper tax netted 2.4 million euros during a test phase this summer, and that decisions on how to proceed would be made in the fall after a full analysis of the data. According to the city, the 5-euro tax was paid 485,062 times over the 29 test days, mostly weekends and holidays, from April 25 to July 14. Mayor Luigi Brugnaro said that the city would consider adjusting the fee based on whether pay the tax in advance, or at the last minute. He defended the tourist tax from critics, who called it a failure because it failed to deter arrivals, as envisioned.