Tourists have been charged a £1.20 washing-up fee for eating ice cream out of a bowl while dining in a European restaurant.
Two travellers from Lower Austria had been holidaying near Vienna when they decided to visit an ice cream parlour.
The establishment seemed popular, with one of the tourists, named Wolfgang, telling Heute: ‘There was a huge queue’.
The pair entered the dessert shop and sat down at a table before ordering an iced coffee each and a bowl of ice cream.
But after they had finished, Wolfgang took a closer look at the receipt and noticed there was a third fee charged.
The receipt showed £6 for the beverage, £7.30 for the dessert, plus a £1.20 ‘glass surcharge’ fee.
‘I immediately got up and asked at the counter if we had paid a deposit,’ Wolfgang told the newspaper.
The answer left the tourist stunned: ‘That’s how it is with us, for the washing-up,’ the parlour worker responded.
The receipt showed £6 for the beverage, £7.30 for the dessert, plus a £1.20 ‘glass surcharge’ fee
The owner of the ice cream parlour explained to the newspaper: ‘We don’t have separate table prices, we simply charge this surcharge – it’s displayed on a sign in front of the shop’ (stock image)
Wolfgang said he questioned this, stating that this was usually included in the price.
The worker explained that the charge was added as the ice cream was served in a container that needed washing, but if it had been dished out in a cardboard cup, then there would have been no extra charge.
The owner of the ice cream parlour explained to the newspaper: ‘We don’t have separate table prices, we simply charge this surcharge – it’s displayed on a sign in front of the shop’.
But the tourist said he saw no information in the restaurant that stated this fee, and he was not informed by staff when he ordered.
‘It’s not about 70 cents, you just don’t treat customers like that!,’ he said.
‘We will not be visiting this ice cream parlour again!’
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All the destinations – including those in the UK – where tourists have to pay a tax
It comes as daytrippers heading to Venice are now required to pay an entry fee, as the city reintroduced a levy designed to curb ‘hit and run’ tourism, which began this month.
The Access Fee will apply to visitors entering the Italian city for the day from Friday to Sunday in April, May, June and July.
This year, the levy will run for 60 days – an increase from the 54 days in 2025.
Venice welcomes between 20 and 30 million tourists annually, with about 21 million being daytrippers.
Surging visitor numbers have brought the historic centre’s delicate infrastructure to the brink, with local frustration reaching a breaking point.
To manage overtourism, the iconic lagoon city launched €5 (£4.34) daily fee for day-trippers in April 2024, targeting the most crowded days.
In 2025, the tax remained in place, but entry fees rose to €10 (£8.68) for those who failed to make reservations up to four days in advance, while the enforcement period expanded to 54 days.
This year, an extra six dates have been added.
