In a world where globalization is on the rise, travel has become more accessible to the society as a whole. World trends have indicated that tourism is on the rise. International arrivals have risen from 25 million to 846 million over the last sixty years and tourism has become the number one world wide export generating approximately $733 billion in 2006 . The city of Venice, Italy constitutes a portion of this world number, seeing approximately 15,000,000 tourists every year . Tourism and its related activities generate the majority of Venetian income as well as employment. Major economic sectors in Venice such as commerce, transportation, food industry, and entertainment are directly dependent upon business provided by the millions of tourists that visit the city every year. Like almost all of the multifaceted influences that affect Venetian life, tourism has its benefits, but is not without its contrasting detriments. This chapter will explore the inflow of tourism, its positive and negative impacts, as well as its social implications.

Venice’s beautiful architecture, rich culture, and wondrous canals have proven to be the city’s main attractions. Huge numbers of tourists now frequent the city. In the year 2002, there were 14,663,000 tourist presences in Venice’s Centro Storico, of which approximately 3.6 million were residential tourists and 11 million were excursionists. Increased prices in Venice have resulted in an increase in the number of excursionist tourists with respect to the residential tourists. The number of improper excursionists increased from 3 million people in 1996 to well over 5 million in 2002. A tourist may prefer to be an excursionist instead of an overnighter because the latter may include higher lodging costs than if the tourist commuted from home or from a cheaper hotel in another location. Over eighty percent of the tourists in Venice stay less than one day on the city . Although the excursionists constitute the majority of the tourist population they contributes less to Venetian income than the residential tourists. Conversely, residential tourists contribute most of the Venetian tourism income . The graphs below show the breakdown of residential to excursionist tourism as well as the income generated by each. It is important to notice that although only 24% of visitors are residential tourists, they contribute 60% of all tourist income in Venice .

Figure 1: Yearly tourism population vs. tourism generated income

If the trend of excursionist tourism continues without a proportional residential tourism growth, it is possible that tourism-accommodating businesses such as hotels may be negatively affected. However, national and regional laws approved the allowance of the bed and breakfasts, which prior to 2001 were illegal. Subsequently, the number of beds in the city increased. Currently there are 19,101 beds in the Centro Storico, of which 13,728 are hotel beds. The remaining are beds at hostels, bed and breakfasts, and other lodging establishments. This number has doubled since the year 2000 from 2,508 to 5,373 .

In 1991, studies and experiments indicated that the carrying capacity of Venice was 22,500 visitors, but only a maximum of 10,700 of these should be excursionists . The carrying capacity limits are constantly violated, especially during the summer months with peak days of more than 45,000 tourists . To support the entry of such large number of tourists into Venice, the city has a respectable infrastructure which is made up by two major airports, a train station and bridge as well as properly planned inter-city and lagoon transportation system. These entry points are; Marco Polo and Treviso airport, Santa Lucia train station, the bridge to the mainland, the Venice port, litorale nord and litorale sud. The following graphic represents all tourist entry points as well as the volume of tourists coming in through each for one day during high season.

Figure 2: Tourism arrivals for a day during high season

When analyzing respective data pertaining to the benefits of tourism, the importance of it as a driving socioeconomic force in Venice becomes even clearer. Tourism has proven to be an excellent economic activity in Venice, generating over €1 billion in 2002 . According to estimates made by the World Travel Guide, tourism provides 70% of the total income of Venice, and it is responsible for the generation of at least 50% of the jobs . In actuality the unemployment rate for Venice is 4.2% as opposed to an Italian national rate of 8.7%, showing that Venice is comparably in excellent standing . Out of the twenty regions that compose the Italian territory, the Veneto is ranked first in terms of its quota of the Italian tourism, being the destination of 12.2% of all tourist movements to Italy or within Italy . Moreover, from the €28 billion spent in Italy during the year of 2004 by foreign tourists, the Veneto region accounted for €4.4 billion while over €2.4 billion were spent solely in the commune of Venice , as shown in the graph below.

Figure 3: Tourism income in Venice in comparison to the rest of Italy

There are also a number of less obvious benefits for the city of Venice. The millions of visitors, who carry the Venetian reputation back to their home countries and advertise by word of mouth, also raise awareness for city needs. Thanks to them, several institutions such as Save Venice and Venice in Peril exist, promoting the global awareness of Venetian issues and raising funds to restore and preserve the City of Water. Groups like these are responsible for over 250 restorations all over the city . In addition, the population enjoys an efficient and well planned public transportation system which is mainly supported by tourism. In this sense, the intense influx of tourists in Venice and the city’s dependency on the money generated from it, act as a strong political argument on behalf of Venice. It attracts large amounts of investments, both from international organizations and from the Italian government. The rise of tourism has brought with it many economical benefits but not without having it’s negative impacts. One of the main problems easily found by anyone visiting the island is pedestrian traffic. Heavy pedestrian traffic and crowding in the city lower the residential comfort level by making it more difficult for Venetians to get around the city and go about their daily duties.

Figure 4: Tourist congestion around Rialto

One of the first documented negative effects of traffic generated by tourism in Venice is the physical wear and tear on the infrastructure of the city. Every year, the millions of tourists that traverse the city in search of sights to see and souvenirs to purchase literally break the city apart. A walk across any of the numerous bridges in Venice is evidence of this when one views the middle of each step worn down whole centimeters just from the passage of people over them. Stones break from traditional architecture and often public art is all but recognizable from wear.

Figure 5: Wear and tear caused by tourists on a Venetian bridge

All this wear and tear leads to huge costs for the city of Venice in order to maintain, not even restore – these worn façades of past Venetian culture. Every year, the Venetian government spends close to €250 million on costs associated with tourism . Other than the infrastructural maintenance, repair, and restoration there is also the cost of dealing with all of the garbage and waste generated by the millions of tourists, cost of law enforcement, and environmental pollution. While adding to the amount of garbage in Venice, tourists also add to the amount of litter on the streets. Due to the high cost of food and other items in Venice, day trippers are becoming an increasingly popular trend. These day trippers often bring bagged lunches and leave their garbage behind .

Figure 6: Tourists illegally eating lunch in San Marco

Due to this issue and other related ones Venice has not only created a branch of government called the Office of Decorum but also started fining for infractions that seem relatively minor on the large scale of problems in the city. Offenses now cited include dropping soda cans and food wrappers on the ground, dipping feet into the fabled canals, sleeping in the shady alleys, picnicking on ancient paving stones, and even walking around without a shirt. Walking down the street sans shirt can be subject to a 50 to 500 euro fine! ($70 to $710) (Venice Tourists Must Stay Respectable or Face Fines)

Figure 7: Sign of rules in San Marco

Venice has actually hired “hostesses” in tourist hot spot areas such as St Mark’s square. These multilingual women carry badges, copies of the new rules, and cell phones to call for reinforcements when necessary. These hostesses’ sole job is to prevent tourists from perpetrating horrible crimes such as sitting down to eat their bag lunches or falling asleep in public.

Figure 8: Rules being enforced by a hostess

On any given day, there are at least 89 foreigners on average for every 100 Venetians residents. This is actually the highest tourist-to-resident ratio in Europe. To put this in perspective, it is nine times that found in the Italian city of Florence . During high season the ratio of foreigners to residents is even worse. Every day the city’s 62,000 residents see themselves outnumbered with the crowding of 46,000 daily tourists as well as a commuting work force of 47,000 and 25,000 students entering the Centro Storico from Mestre and other surrounding towns every day . The ratio then becomes 100 foreigners for every 53 residents . The graphic below represents the disproportion of non-residents to residents for a day during high tourist season.

Figure 9: Disproportion of non-residents to residents for a day

Venice’s unique geography and urbanization limits the expansion of the city to accommodate the growing tourist population. Since Venice is an island, the construction of new buildings or expansions are restricted, often due to regulations governing updating of historical buildings. With a disproportion of tourists and working commuters to residents as well as inflated prices and high costs of living, many of the city’s residents opt to abandon the city in order to find a better quality of life. Intertwined with the Venetian residents is also the city’s history and heritage which declines with the population.

Socially, one of the farthest reaching effects of tourism in Venice is the astronomical cost of living. Rents have sky-rocketed as the ‘rich and famous’ have bought Venetian real estate. But while fortunes are paid for water-side villas, the landlords tend to be absentee or itinerant. Consequently, in winter Venice is all but deserted, except for the dwindling local population and tourists . The sky-high prices of real estate in Venice have caused a resident migration. For example, in Venice, a 100 square meter (1,075 sq ft) property can cost up to €1 million. This is two or three times the price of comparable, newer, properties less than 6 km away in Mestre . The high price of living and the large influx of tourists, commuting workers and students coming in every day make a perfect recipe for low residential comfort level and thus residential decline. In 1950 there was close to 150,000 people living in the city. Current numbers show that a more consistent average is 62,000, with about 2000 people dying every year and a mean age of 50 years . If the current declining trends continue it is predicted that Venice may be a ghost town within fifty years . There have been a large number of schools closed over the last fifty years. One of the last kindergartens in the historic centre of Venice was closed on April 6th, 2007 and turned into Venice’s 231st hotel. This is a significant symbol of Venice’s development into an almost strictly tourist based city . As of 2006, 25% of the population was over the age of 64 .

The Venetian director of CORILA, the organization that orchestrates Venice’s scientific activities is quoted as saying “We desperately need more young people. One way to attract them is to build up the university and high-tech sectors.” Although this may seem as a good idea to keep the youth of Venice from migrating elsewhere, it becomes nearly impossible to modernize Venice due to its “Heritage city” status and restrictions. Keeping a whole city restored, especially given the exceptionally difficult and unique physical environment, is extremely difficult and made more difficult by severe financial restraints. The problem of being a heritage city is that there is a demand to freeze the city in the past. In 1987 the entire city and the lagoon were added to the World Heritage List . The picture below illustrates typical Venetian façades.

Figure 10: Typical Venetian facades

Venice as a heritage city and its residents have become a “spectacle” of tourism. This spectacle may very well be the cause of residential decline. With a declining population it is possible that the city may be slowly losing the breathing heritage that gives it life. Some have said that if the residential decline continues, Venice may be no different than a theme park such as Disney World with the exception of stricter geographical limitations. For example, Disney World is in an area which allows expansion in order to create a greater infrastructure that can support the increase in visitors. Venice on the other hand has experienced a large increase in the number of tourists, but the overall infrastructure and boundaries have already been saturated. Regardless of the limitations, some believe that Disney is the answer to save Venice and preserve its heritage from an uncertain future. The comparison between Venice and strictly tourist parks such as Disney is becoming ever increasingly popular. In June 2006 an economist and columnist for the Financial Times made a speech at the “Venice in Peril” debate, on the side of the motion: “Enough money has been spent on saving Venice.” His words were “Today 12 million people a year pay €50 a head to visit Eurodisney. It is quite clear when you see it in these terms that if the Disney Corporation owned Venice, Venice would no longer be in peril.” Another writer John Kay declares, “Disney is not the best answer: but anything would be better than the squabbles, corruption, and delays of Italian politics.”

A more simple, immediate, and practical approach to alleviate the tourism problems is by promoting more residential tourism and reducing the number of the less-beneficial excursionist tourists. The vicious cycle of tourism development in heritage destinations suggests: the imposition of tariffs on those who do not book a hotel room, or other forms of “disincentive” to excursions. An advance booking system based on telecommunications could easily be integrated with the free issue of a «City Smart Card» to those who reserve, granting a series of benefits to their owners: a win-win solution that is recently gaining support in political circles. On the contrary, taxation on overnight stays – such as hotel-room taxes – reveals contra-productive as it discriminates against staying visits . The benefits of this approach would theoretically be an increase in tourism income and furthermore, a decrease in the number of the less-beneficial excursionists. This suggestion has not been implemented, therefore its practical effects on tourism income and numbers has not been verified. Others have abandoned all possibility of finding a solution and have said, “If you love Venice, let her die” . There are obvious conflictions between personal opinions on the future of Venice but one thing is for sure, Venice has been and still is one of the most wondrous cities in the world. Figure 11: Ponte dei Sospiri

Worldwide, tourism is one of the most rapidly growing economic sectors and historically and aesthetically rich cities like Venice can easily become a one industry city, while its other economic activities decline. As long as the city is still afloat, tourism will continue to support it and destroy it. How long the city will be around for everyone to enjoy is just a question of proper planning and tourism management which up until now has failed to regulate the Venetian tourism carrying capacity violations. One thing that the proper authorities must recognize is that in terms of sustainability, economic interests must be balanced with the infrastructural, environmental, social, and economic constraints of the city – long term as well as short. It should be noted that often times, if not handled properly and regulated, tourism can even lead to loss of local traditions and gradual impoverishment of social structures.

References

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