Are tourists destroying an area?
by Earl of Cruise
by Earl of Cruise
 |
| Feeling welcome? Cruise passengers look on as Venetians vent at a previous protest - courtesy ALAMY |
Each small destination suffers from the same problem ... big ships and masses of tourists.
Tempers flare in Venice as angry protesters block cruise ships. There has been a planned bann for cruise ships cruising through the living room of La Serenissima (German). It was somehow blocked, or unsharpend. Plans have been made for a new access through the lagoon to the cruise port.
Tempers flare in Venice as angry protesters block cruise ships. There has been a planned bann for cruise ships cruising through the living room of La Serenissima (German). It was somehow blocked, or unsharpend. Plans have been made for a new access through the lagoon to the cruise port.
 |
| Flag of La Serenissima Republica di Venezia - Source: Wikipedia |
Venice
is a torn city these days as the economy is depending on the tourists.
Foreigners buy houses and flats in Venice and the old Venetian have to go ...
as the foreigners only come for some days during the year. During the last
decade La Serenissima (English) has lost nearly 60,000 inhabitants. In 1931 the number of
Venetians has been 161,000 ... Locals flee the city for the extraordinary rise
of rents - for flats and for shops.
Hundreds of demonstrators have taken to the canal to protest against the cruise ships steaming through their living room. The relations between tourists and Venetians reach a new nadir.
A similar situation is to be seen in Dubrovnik - 6,000 inhabitants of the Adriatic Pearl, the former Ragusa, the Golden City, have to endure 45,000 tourists per day flodding through their city.
Venice, Venezia, has some 55,000 inhabitants ... but during a turn over with the mega ships, a max of eight at once, some 30 to 80,000, plus those which stay for some days and those flodding in for a day trip - 60,000!. 22 million tourists visit Venice each year, annoying the dwindling number of locals by crowding narrow alleyways, barging onto water buses with backpacks and wandering around during the summer in bikini tops and shorts.
A tourist manger stated:
“Around 65 per cent of tourists who come to Venice come just for the day. They use all the services, like rubbish bins and toilets, but they don’t bring any wealth to the city. We want to get away from mass tourism and move towards a more quality market where people stay for four or five days.”
It is rather crowded then, when such a big turn over is happening, which I experienced by myself.
Flare-waving protestors used gondolas and small boats to prevent cruise ships, including a vessel belonging to Thomson, from passing through the lagoon on last Sunday in September. Cruise passengers look on as Venetians vent at a previous protest - Feeling welcome?
Hundreds of demonstrators have taken to the canal to protest against the cruise ships steaming through their living room. The relations between tourists and Venetians reach a new nadir.
A similar situation is to be seen in Dubrovnik - 6,000 inhabitants of the Adriatic Pearl, the former Ragusa, the Golden City, have to endure 45,000 tourists per day flodding through their city.
Venice, Venezia, has some 55,000 inhabitants ... but during a turn over with the mega ships, a max of eight at once, some 30 to 80,000, plus those which stay for some days and those flodding in for a day trip - 60,000!. 22 million tourists visit Venice each year, annoying the dwindling number of locals by crowding narrow alleyways, barging onto water buses with backpacks and wandering around during the summer in bikini tops and shorts.
A tourist manger stated:
“Around 65 per cent of tourists who come to Venice come just for the day. They use all the services, like rubbish bins and toilets, but they don’t bring any wealth to the city. We want to get away from mass tourism and move towards a more quality market where people stay for four or five days.”
It is rather crowded then, when such a big turn over is happening, which I experienced by myself.
Flare-waving protestors used gondolas and small boats to prevent cruise ships, including a vessel belonging to Thomson, from passing through the lagoon on last Sunday in September. Cruise passengers look on as Venetians vent at a previous protest - Feeling welcome?
 |
| Giudecca Canal (middle), and the Grand Canal with Punta della Dogana (lower right) - Source: Wikipedia |
It’s not the first time Venetians have tried to block cruise ships from
entering the port. In 2013, hundreds of locals donned wetsuits and went for a swim in the world-famous Giudecca Canal to disrupt or prevent the passage of vessels.
 |
| 2013, hundreds of locals donned wetsuits and went for a swim in the world-famous Giudecca Canal - courtesy The Telegraph |
The cruise ship operators claim their boats create little damage to
Venice's fragile palazzi and reckon some 5,000 families in Venice are supported
by the tourism they bring. However, locals fear the flood of visitors is
damaging the local environment, spoiling the character of La Serenissima (Venice)
and pricing locals out of the city.
 |
| Vessel in Venice, transiting the Giudecca to the Harbour |
A fact-finding mission to Venice by Unesco officials in 2015 found that
“the capacity of the city, the number of its inhabitants and the number of
tourists is out of balance and causing significant damage” to the city.
 |
Satelite photography of Venice, with false colours
center right: the entrance into the lagoon, middle: Venice and the Giudecca, center left: Mestre
|
Venetians have been particularly vocal about their distain for tourists in
2016. Earlier this month more than 500 locals took to the streets with shopping trolleys and pushchairs in a protest that was
aimed at highlighting the negative effect mass tourism is having on the city.
And in August an anonymous protest group plastered posters on walls in the
Unesco-listed city, reading: “Tourists Go Away!!! You Are Destroying
This Area.”
 |
| Sunset gondola Basilica Della Salute - Source: Wikipedia / courtesy: Mirko Manzin |
Famous people on Venezia, Le Serenissima
"When it comes to overseas, my favourite
place is Venice. I'm an incurable romantic and love the grandeur and ambience
of the place. There's nothing better than sitting in a small restaurant by a
canal, enjoying delicious pasta and some local Italian wine. It's my idea of
heaven." - Alan
Titchmarsh
"My favourite city? Venice... when it’s
quiet." - Lily Cole
"A great meal is a collision of company,
environment, ambient temperature, the waiters, where you are emotionally. I
once had a plate of pasta in Venice with my partner and a bottle of quite nice
wine, and it was €150. Shocking. But some nights are so lovely you can’t put a
price on them." - Sue Perkins
"The nicest hotel I've stayed in? The
Cipriani, especially if you have one of the suites on the top where you can look
out and see the whole of Venice." - AC Grayling
"I’ve had three wonderful holidays in
Venice, which is so beautiful and romantic with the old gondolas and little
restaurants on the water. We stayed at the Hotel Danieli and my wife remembers
the magnificent four-poster bed in our room. It’s one of those places where you
really spoil and pamper yourself." - Sir Trevor Brooking
Comments
Post a Comment