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Overcrowded Venice may ban day-trippers
There's no question that Venice is a city overrun with tourists. 20 million people visit the sinking city each year, yet only 60,000 Italians call Venice home. It's no wonder then that the city starts to feel more like an open-air museum, a well-preserved relic of the past, rather than a living, and lived-in, city.
The residents of Venice put up with a lot (though or course, many of them profit greatly from the massive tourism industry too), and many are fed up with the overwhelming crush of tourists that descend on the town each year. And they aren't above fighting back. Last year, the city created a (short-lived) locals-only vaporetto line from the Grand Canal to Piazza San Marco. Technically, anyone with a 3-year Carta Venezia pass could ride, but at 40 Euros each, most visitors wouldn't buy one.
The latest tactic in the battle of locals vs. tourists is to ban day-trippers. Only about 30% of Venice's annual visitors stay there overnight. The rest stay outside the city, stop by on their way to or from other destinations, or come for the day by cruise ship. The proposal would limit visitors to the city to those people who have a pre-booked hotel reservation.
Enrico Mingardi, the head of public transportation in Venice, is the mastermind of the proposal. He says that Venetians can "no longer tolerate the discomforts" caused by the influx of thousands of tourists each day. He didn't say exactly how the system would work, what rules would apply to cruise ship visitors, and if those without proof of hotel reservations would be locked out of the city.
Proposals that would limit the number of Venice's tourists have been brought up before, but always defeated. If the policy does take effect, I have a feeling Venice will feel even more like a historical theme park. What's next - turnstiles and a ticket window?
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
VIV Sep 20th 2009 8:08PM
you don't have to go to rome italy, go to las vegas, it is so real you actually think you are in rome.
Matt Sep 20th 2009 8:25PM
maybe the italians could teach the americans how to keep unwanted or illegal people out of their country.
Sharon Sep 20th 2009 9:44PM
Maybe most americans should realize they're really not full blooded americans after all, only here because their grandma's and grandpa's came from different countries and really most in the west are just as mexican as those now across borders...The land is mexican that many live on..just was taken so now it's called part of america. I find it funny especially when californians freak out about Mexicans when really they're on Mexican land too simply taken and now called one of the states of the United States. I hope all Mexicans here have tons of babies and take over all political offices and soon after awhile, who will be the minority?? hahaha..it'll happen, watch!!
bob Sep 20th 2009 11:37PM
Sharon:
Sorry, but the land (I presume you mean parts of California, Arizona, New Mexico and Texas) you describe as "being taken from Mexico", was actually ceded by Mexico to the US during the Mexican American War. Mexico sued for peace (otherwise they would have lost even more land) with the US and the land they gave up to the US was the price they paid to end the war.
Steven Sep 21st 2009 1:44AM
Chicano Sharon, ALL of the United States once was inhabited by nothing but Native American tribes. By your logic, the Europeans stole the lands from the Native Americans and the U.S. was built on stolen lands. Why don't you go join the Anahuac movement, which seeks to drive all people who are NOT pure-blooded Native Americans out of North America, and establish a nation which ONLY Native Americans can even set foot in.
Joe Papierz Jr Sep 20th 2009 8:57PM
I would have liked to visit the real Venice, but you know what? I don't want to impose on the great citizens that make Venice their home so I'll just take my tourist dollars elsewhere. Venice can just dry up and disappear for all I care. I've seen Venice in any number of movies and Discovery Channel shows as well as National Geographics. They'll cry a different tune when their tourist dollars dwindle and taxes have to go up. There are plenty of other destinations that will intrigue and interest me to choose from.
missy4201510 Sep 20th 2009 9:27PM
perhaps you would think otherwise if the town you live in were to be over-run like a bad rat problem with tourists every single day of every single year with no chance of reprieve EVER and you knew it. But this is your home town and you will not be over-run in your town maybe you will just impose a few rules to keep the true tourists happy and yourself as well.
Jay Sep 20th 2009 10:30PM
I heard Italy is filthy anyway. Go to Germany.
Sam Sep 20th 2009 10:41PM
I know what its like to live in a town that has constant visitors. Though its small, we are very close to NYC, play host to a college, the country's oldest streets, local attraction of the Mohonk Mountains, skiing and the little old country farms. We never get a break from tourists and I think its a wise idea to put a ban on visitors. Especially when they don't have the common decency to treat those in the town and the town itself with respect. It should not take forty-five minutes to drive into town when the distance would only make it fifteen.
Kelly Sep 21st 2009 12:19AM
I visited Venice several years ago...I will never go back. The smell was horrible; it smelled like a giant porta potty. The people went out of their way to be rude because we were American.
I had heard horror stories about the french so we purposely planned our trip to spend an extra day or so in Venice instead of Paris. Venice was the only place were we were treated poorly, out of seven different countries.
The architecture was stunning and it was interesting from a historic standpoint. As for the people - I couldn't help but think that Venice couldn't sink fast enough.
John Hayes Sep 21st 2009 1:18AM
Let's imagine any tourist location without the tourists. So sad to see everything boarded up.
I guess they just want Venice to be a big gated community.
Cindy Sep 21st 2009 1:27AM
I had the most amazing trip to Italy, and although Florence was my favorite destination, Venice was a close second. It was an amazingly beaituful city with so much to offer, and the hospitality blew me away.
But I couldn't help but feel bad for the Venetians, as though I was trespassing. Not only does the beautiful city suffer from water issues, but it was so loud and crowded during the day. Not to mention that the price to live there has gone considerably up and families that have had roots in Venice for many generations are forced to leave because they can no longer afford it. I feel like I barely got to see the REAL Venice. Instead there were so many cheap tourist shops at every inch of the piazza's and streets.
I live in a town next to a University and during the academic year when the 20,000 odd students return to campus our town is crowded and traffic and lines are insane-- our community cannot wait fro the winter and summer breaks when everything gets quieter. Of course the Venetians experience what I do on a much larger scale that must be much more disruptive. imagine waking up to noise of hundreds of tourists outside you windows in the morning, or trying to do work and concentrate during the day. OR even making it from Point A to Point B in a reasonable time, but are delayed because of the crowds that clog the arteries in the heart of the city.
I believe that tourism is very important for the city of Venice, but that it should also be recognized that a city is not only there to accommodate tourists (most of which have no idea of the actual historical and artistic value that they are viewing).
The city should not forget it's people and their needs since a city needs to be made of more than just tourists, but of stable residents that bring culture to it.
Robert Sep 21st 2009 3:39AM
Cindy, Just think what your community would be like without all the money those 20,000 students spend in your stores. I lived in a small community and when the college nearby closed up it killed half the businesses in town. People I had known my whole life lost everything when they couldn;t afford to keep their businesses running. And the city lost all the tax money they were receiving from the college and then our police, fire, and medical no longer had the funds they needed and half of them lost their jobs and had to move away also. I will gladly put up with an extra fifteen minutes of traffic to keep my community solvent.
Steven Sep 21st 2009 1:58AM
About 90% of the tourists in Venice are fellow Europeans. If you think Americans are obnoxious tourists, the Europeans are worse. A recent survey shows that the five worst countries for their tourists are in Europe. Americans have gotten a bad rap because they've been going on tours in Europe longer than Europeans started visiting their neighbor countries, and there have always been enough bad apples amongst the American tourists to give some Europeans the impression that Americans are rude and obnoxious. Now that the European Union has made it easy for Europeans to visit fellow EU countries, many popular tourist destinations such as Venice are being overrun by obnoxious tourists.
Perry Allotta Sep 21st 2009 2:04AM
The guy that say "Italy is filthy should go go overthere and find out that Italy is the Country that invented everything, even Talking about existence.
Italy is second to none about everything, believe it.
Rome is Caput Mundy, Italy is Caput Mundy
perry Allotta Sep 21st 2009 2:13AM
You are right ! Las Vegas has created part of Italy in a way that is a miracle.
I think Venice is real Venice in Las Vegas, Bravi Americans ! They have a reason to say : We did it. After all "We are Americans", We can do anything right.
Squiggles Sep 21st 2009 4:23AM
I'm surprised to see that only 30% of tourists stay more than one day. Surely Venice has more things to see than one can see in one day? Although I can understand the Venetians' wish for a bit more peace and quiet, how would this city survive financially if they banned day-trippers? Even if each day-tripper only spent 50 Euros during their stay, that money alone amounts to 700 MILLION Euros (ca. $980 Million US). Do they really want to lose out on that kind of money? With all the improvements this city needs to live and attract tourists, relying on income from longer-staying tourists alone may not be the smartest thing to do.
Carmen Sep 21st 2009 5:43AM
They r our of their FN minds. They live off the tourists. What would they like us to go,,, come to the city gates leave our money and go home? Not this lifetime!!!!
livingvenice Sep 21st 2009 6:32AM
I saw six cruise ships in the harbor yesterday. Up to 3500 passengers each, up to 1000 crew members each, most of whom will spend a few hours wandering the city, mostly San Marco, spending very little money, and then heading back either to the ship or a nearby airport hotel for their next day departure.
Venice is the original SlowTown - it's simply not built for speed - thus making it physically impossible to offer quality hospitality to 20-30K visitors in the period of a few hours, most of whom expect the same cruise ship service from a city over 1000 years old.
This city (as do most things) needs more people who care about it for more than a few hours.
It's painful to see the truly unique things Venice has to offer being obliterated little by little not by tourism per se, but by 1) the visitors' expectation of a Disneyland because that's the image that is promoted, and 2) the sheer mass and lack of management of the number of visitors.
Responsible, sustainable tourism, no matter what the destination: it protects the site, and satisfies the traveller. And yes, it may require sacrifice on everyone's part.
(The residents-only vaporetto line, by the way, is no longer in existence.)
Cindy Sep 22nd 2009 12:11AM
Robert,
Your response to mine does sound logical, however my town is the exception to student profit. It is very small and the students tend to out-source for their materialist needs, besides groceries and gasoline (which are rare since almost all have a meal plan and use public transportation), in towns about 20-30 minutes away. The only businesses that profit are the local CVS and package store during the academic year.
I am not saying that tourism should stop completely. Tourism is very important to many cities (it's what makes them great and popular!). But the ratio and concentration in Venice, a small and already cramped city, cannot continue to sustain such numbers. I believe the article was saying it is being suggested that the tourism does not stop completely, but limited to the tourists that actually stay in Venice (ergo bringing Venetian Hotels more business).
I can sympathize with the Venetians who have to deal with the repercussions of mass tourism. They are already dealing with major problems such as restoration and preservation of their already "sinking city" due to water damages and flooding while also trying to accommodate thousands of tourists a day. I wouldn't blame them for feeling a tad overwhelmed...