Venice is considering doubling its tourist tax as it fails to curb visitor numbers.

Three months after it imposed the world’s first city access fee, Venice city council is looking at raising the price from €5 (£4.20) to €10 (£8.40) in 2025.

“In order to cope with mass tourism, we need to bolster the access fee,” Simone Venturini, the deputy mayor and council official in charge of tourism, said on Friday.

“Venice is still very affordable and we need to reinforce the access fee as a disincentive to curb excess tourism.”

The Unesco World Heritage city attracted 20 million visitors last year, dwarfing the resident population of about 49,000.

Mr Venturini said the entrance payment had reduced tourist numbers on weekends and public holidays, without giving precise details of the numbers, but said it was not enough.

Critics argue the fee has failed to make any difference to the impact of mass tourism and that, in anything, the number of visitors is going up.

Giovanni Andrea Martini, a centre-Left city councillor aligned with a residents’ group, Tutta La Citta’ Insieme ( the Whole City Together), described the scheme as a failure.

This week he provoked debate by saying he liked Barcelona’s approach to tourism – locals there have been firing water pistols at tourists to drive them away.

“This is a peaceful and fun way in which to make it clear how much tourism crushes the lives of residents,” said Mr Martini.

He later said he was joking and did not advocate arming residents with water pistols.

Mr Martini said he wanted to highlight the worsening impact of overtourism and the failure of city officials to safeguard residents’ interests and the future of their fragile city.

“The entrance fee is a failure, tourist numbers are increasing and the quality of life for residents is getting worse,” Mr Martini said.

About 20 million visitors travel to Venice each year and stay for varying periods of time. The entrance fee for day-trippers was launched at the end of April and imposed for a total of 29 days between April and mid-July.

Those who spend at least one night in the city, traditionally known as La Serenissima, are exempt but they must register online before they arrive. Residents, commuters, students and children are also excluded.

Meanwhile, Spain’s tourism minister, Jordi Hereu, condemned a group of protesters who sprayed visitors with water pistols in Barcelona last weekend, saying they did not represent the country’s culture of hospitality.