Venice officials have indicated they plan to double a daily tourist tax after a successful summer trial.

Over 29 days during the summer, the city said the €5 (£4.20) tax was paid 485,062 times, generating around €2.4m (£2m).

The trial ran from 25 April to 14 July and applied to day-trippers.

Final numbers included paper access tickets as well – which accounted for around 1,000 entrances each day.

Italians accounted for 60% of visitors to Venice during the trial period, followed by US, German and French citizens, ranging from 6.5% to 4% of the totals.

Following the trial, city officials suggested the tax would be extended next year and doubled to €10, at least on some days.

But they did not make any immediate announcements, and instead said the final decision on how to proceed would be made in the autumn, following a full analysis of the data.

Mayor Luigi Brugnaro said the city would consider adjusting the fee if it was paid in advance or not.

He also defended the tax after critics said it failed to deter arrivals, which is why it was initially brought in.

Mr Brugnaro said: “We listened to citizens, to associations, to thousands of people, but in the end, there were no alternative solutions to ours.

“We thought to take this road of the controls, which were light enough, not invasive.”

Visitors not staying in accommodation at the city were required to download a QR code proving they had paid the tax.

Officials said that paying the tax took two minutes on average.

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Hotel guests, who already pay a lodging tax, were exempt, as were people living in the Veneto region, visitors under 14, and those visiting relatives, among others.

Officials carried out random checks on people from 8.30am to 4pm with transgressors facing fines between €50 and €300 (£53 to £257).

Outside the 8.30am to 4pm period, access was free.

Venice is grappling with over-tourism with estimates of up to 30 million annual visits to the city.

The day-tripper tax was delayed by the pandemic but upon its introduction, it was heralded by UNESCO member states.

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The city’s top tourist official, Simone Venturini, said the fee marked “a cultural revolution”.

“For the first time in the world, a city has an instrument that allows to finally have clear data, and not just approximate estimates, not longer interpretations of data, but exact data of people entering and leaving the city,” he said.

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