Venice, that world-famous destination, is trying hard to deal with its huge tourism problem while keeping its amazing buildings and culture safe. Starting July 1, 2025, St. Mark’s Basilica will have some new rules, like a more expensive ticket and fewer people allowed in each day. This is all part of Venice’s bigger plan to handle the challenges of having too many tourists.
These changes, plus the fact that 2024 saw record numbers of tourists, show that Venice is changing the way it handles tourism to make it more sustainable.
New Visitor Regulations for St. Mark’s Basilica
Venice is putting in place new rules to better manage the number of people visiting St. Mark’s Basilica, a UNESCO World Heritage site that gets about 1.8 million visitors every year. Starting in July 2025, you’ll have to book your visit online, and the price of a ticket that includes the basilica and its bell tower will go up from €6 to €10. The extra money will help keep 40 other churches in Venice open for free and help fix up important religious places, such as Santa Maria della Salute and the Basilica of Santa Maria Assunta in Torcello.
To make things safer and less crowded, the basilica will only allow 500–600 people in at once. Some spots, like the Pala d’Oro, will have even stricter rules, so only a few people can see this special altarpiece at any one time. Kids under 10, church groups, and people with disabilities won’t have to pay the entrance fee, which means more people can visit the basilica.
These steps are meant to cut down on long waits, make ticket buying easier, and keep the basilica in good shape. The bell tower, which attracts about 700,000 visitors each year, should also see improvements in how people move through it.
Venice Tourism Boom: Big Numbers and Shifting Trends
Venice is still one of the most popular places in the world to visit. In 2024, the city had almost 5.9 million visitors, which is about 3.7% more than the year before. It also saw a record 13.3 million overnight stays, beating the old record of 12.9 million from 2019. This shows just how much people love Venice, but it also means that managing all those tourists is a big challenge.
Hotels are still important, but they had about 2.9% fewer overnight stays, particularly the cheaper ones. This is because they’re facing more competition from places like vacation rentals and bed-and-breakfasts. These other options grew by about 11%, with 6.3 million overnight stays in 2024. For the first time, more people stayed in private places in Venice’s historic center than in hotels, with 4.9 million stays. Places on the mainland, like Mestre and Marghera, saw a big increase in private stays by 16.1%, which suggests that tourists are starting to stay in different areas.
Private places now make up about 33% of all overnight stays, which is up from 31% in 2023 and 25% in 2019. Hotels account for just over half. The busiest months are May (1.5 million stays) and November (900,000 stays), which shows that Venice is popular all year round.
Dealing with Overtourism
Venice has been leading the way in dealing with the problems caused by overtourism, especially how it affects the city’s fragile environment and historical sites. Since August 2021, big cruise ships haven’t been allowed in the city, which has helped protect the delicate buildings and the lagoon. Also, there’s now a general entrance fee for people visiting for the day, which helps control the flow of tourists and pay for preservation work.
The new rules at St. Mark’s Basilica fit in with these bigger plans. They’re meant to encourage “quality tourism” that focuses on sustainability and preserving the city’s culture. By limiting the number of visitors, making things more transparent, and using the money to fix up religious sites, Venice is trying to make sure its treasures are around for a long time.
Venice Tourism: A New Era
Venice, grappling with unprecedented visitor volume and shifting tourist tastes, is essentially rethinking how it welcomes people. We see this in the increasing popularity of private rentals, a trend that’s affecting traditional hotels. Plus, there are new visitor management rules at places like St. Mark’s Basilica. The city is adapting, generally speaking, to contemporary pressures. In most cases, Venice is trying to find a balance: growing its economy but also making sure its cultural heritage is kept safe. This means it’s figuring out a sustainable way to go forward, so it stays a popular place for visitors and safeguards its legacy at the same time; these shifts mean a lot.