Calls to raise Venice entry fee to stem ‘obscene rivers of tourists’

Crowd control: Stewards checking that daytripping tourists have paid the entry fee for Venice - (Simon Calder)

A Venice businessman has proposed a €100 (£86) entry fee to stop day-tripping tourists from descending on the city without spending.

Setrak Tokatzian, president of St Mark’s Square residents’ association, said that the historic Italian city is in a “state of calamity” in an interview with local newspaper Corriere del Veneto.