Regaining control: Venice takes ‘smart’ measures to manage mass tourism
It is widely acknowledged that Venice needs to do something to manage mass tourism.
The question is: ‘What?’
Will deploying technologies that measure visitor flows help Venice develop more effective strategies to manage them?
Anna Richardot investigates what Venice is doing in this “GT” Insight.
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To say that Venice suffers from mass tourism is an understatement. Its roughly 5 million visitors per year (pre-COVID) have decimated the population, largely destroyed its service infrastructure, and generated massive overcrowding and pollution.
In this “Good Tourism” Insight, we will see that the city is finally implementing large-scale measures to regain control and better manage its tourism flow.
‘Outstanding Universal Value’ under threat
The city of Venice was recognised by UNESCO as a site of “Outstanding Universal Value” in 1987.
In October 2019, a meeting was held at UNESCO headquarters in Switzerland with representatives from the city of Venice and the Italian government, to discuss whether this recognition was still justifiable.
According to the resulting report, “Venice is threatened on several fronts”, from overtourism and large cruise ships to the “negative effects of new developments”.
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The principal criticism was that the city lacked an integrated management system.
Venice lives on tourism, which brings economic benefits — some 65% of the jobs in Venice are linked to tourism — but is also the primary cause of the city’s problems.
Few Venetians have shared in the economic benefits of tourism. Rather, the resident population has been diminished by the industry. In 1951 there were more than 170,000 people living in the historic centre. Today there are barely 50,000.
This mass departure can be partly explained by the increase in the cost of living, but also by overcrowded conditions; the closure of public services in education and healthcare due to a diminishing population; the closure of local food and clothing stores, often transformed into tourism boutiques; and the conversion of resident accommodation into ‘sharing economy’ units (Airbnb or similar).
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In addition to this desertification, Venice has had to face societal problems.
By the 1990s, it became evident that huge cruise ships entering the lagoon were weakening the literal foundations of the city; the wooden pilings on which it stands.
These cruise ships, while pouring tourists into the historical centre, provide relatively little economic benefit. Cruise tourists do not stay more than a day in the city, spend little, if anything, in the local shops, yet they crowd the streets.
Day visitors, whether from a ship or across from the mainland, collectively represent one of the major problems in Venice. Their negative impact on Venice is deemed the highest even while their presence is difficult to estimate.
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Meanwhile, pollution in Venice is a problem. Nearly 40% of the city’s total waste is attributed to the tourism sector.
All these situations stem from the same basic problem; a lack of tourism management and control in Venice, which leads to mass tourism.
How does Venice manage mass tourism?
Venetian and national authorities are … continue reading this “GT” Insight in full at The “Good Tourism” Blog.
