{"id":16857,"date":"2022-07-02T10:01:47","date_gmt":"2022-07-02T06:01:47","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/geworld.ge\/en\/?p=16857"},"modified":"2022-07-03T12:54:53","modified_gmt":"2022-07-03T08:54:53","slug":"venice-plans-to-start-weeding-out-cheap-tourists","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/geworld.ge\/en\/venice-plans-to-start-weeding-out-cheap-tourists\/","title":{"rendered":"Venice Plans to Start Weeding Out Cheap Tourists"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

On a recent afternoon in Venice, a visiting family\u00a0spread a tablecloth over the top of an historic well to lunch on homemade food amid the\u00a0Renaissance-era\u00a0ambience. It was a thrifty alternative to spending money at local eateries, but\u00a0authorities were having none of it.\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThey have been severely fined,\u201d said Simone Venturini, a Venice city councilor, who\u2019s leading an initiative to shift the city\u2019s tourism industry to quality over quantity.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The clampdown on the misguided picnic was part of a broader effort to weed out tourists who clog streets and strain the city\u2019s infrastructure but offer little to the economy \u2014 namely, day-trippers. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"VENICE
Venice has determined that too many tourists do more harm than good.Photographer: Andrea Merola\/Bloomberg<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

The city has determined that when more than 30,000 to 40,000 people show up for a day of taking selfies at the Rialto Bridge, squeezing through St. Mark\u2019s Square and shuffling past the Doge\u2019s Palace, they do more harm than good.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

To weed out cheapskates, the city plans to charge\u00a0day-trippers a\u00a0fee of 3\u00a0to 10 euros (about $3.20 to $10.60) for access to the city starting in January.\u00a0While officials are still determining\u00a0final details, including how to charge and enforce the fees,\u00a0the target encompasses hot spots along the Grand Canal as well as peripheral islands such as Lido, Murano and Torcello.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

There\u2019s also local opposition to overcome. Some shopkeepers fear entrance restrictions send the wrong signal and is out of touch with Venice\u2019s roots as a trading nation.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"VENICE
Venice city councilor Simone Venturini at his office on the Grand Canal.Photographer: Andrea Merola\/Bloomberg<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThe aim of the measures is not to cash in but to protect Venice,\u201d said Venturini. The city \u201cwith its frailties isn\u2019t\u00a0suitable for \u2018fast food\u2019 tourism.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

As the world emerges from two years of pandemic restrictions, the splendor of Venice\u2019s canals and the allure of its winding alleyways are again in high demand, with 120,000 people visiting over the Easter weekend. But city officials and many business owners are keen to ensure the comeback is sustainable.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThe meaning of traveling has deeply changed over the years,\u201d becoming a checklist to mark off, said Giuliana Longo, owner of a shop near the Rialto Bridge that sells hats to gondoliers; it\u2019s been run by the women in her family for more than a century. <\/strong>\u201cBut, in some places, people need to go to enrich their heart, soul and mind by enjoying beauty, and Venice is beauty, with a capital B.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

She backs the entrance-fee plan, but says the city should make it clear that the money is used for a specific purpose, like preservation or environmental mitigation.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"VENICE
Giuliana Longo at her shop near the Rialto Bridge.Photographer: Andrea Merola\/Bloomberg<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Others are less supportive. Ernesto Pancin, director of an association that represents bar and restaurant owners, believes the administration shouldn\u2019t impose restrictions on the historic parts of the city, but encourage day-trippers to explore lesser-known areas at peak times.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cCentral districts like Castello and Santa Croce are beautiful, but they stay empty most of the day and would finally come back to life,\u201d he said. \u201cVenice is a city of the world. Every person coming from the other side of the planet has the right to see it, booking or no booking.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The pushback against day-trippers bears similarities to Amsterdam\u2019s efforts to weed out sex-and-drugs travel as top European destinations recognize that not all visitors are welcome.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The risks of unregulated tourism are even more acute for Venice. Flooding,\u00a0known as \u201cacqua alta,\u201d has become more frequent, with the\u00a0worst surge<\/a>\u00a0in more than 50 years causing\u00a0an\u00a0estimated 1 billion euros in damage\u00a0in 2019. To protect the city,\u00a0Italy\u2019s government approved measures last year to\u00a0ban large cruise ships<\/a>\u00a0in the Venetian lagoon.\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Pressure to act will become even more evident this summer as consumers spend pandemic savings on travel. The number of visitors to Italy\u2019s top 100 historic cities \u2014 including Venice, Rome and Florence \u2014 is projected to jump about 25% to 27.4 million people, according to trade association Assoturismo Confesercenti.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"VENICE
The consequences of unregulated tourism is increasingly evident in Venice.Photographer: Andrea Merola\/Bloomberg<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

\u201cYou can\u2019t allow a city like Venice to be devastated by hordes of tourists,\u201d said Dina Ravera, founder and chairwoman of upscale tour operator Destination Italia SpA<\/a>. \u201cIt\u2019s an open-air museum and to preserve it it\u2019s necessary to limit the flow of people. Otherwise, it would be like leaving the doors of the Louvre open,\u201d she said, referring to the Paris museum that\u2019s home to Leonardo da Vinci\u2019s Mona Lisa.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

For Venturini, policing bad behavior like the picnicking family is part of sending a signal that visiting Venice is a two-way street, which at the very least demands respect for the city\u2019s unique heritage. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cI don\u2019t think they will ever do anything of that sort again,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\nhttps:\/\/www.bloomberg.com\/\n<\/div><\/figure>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

On a recent afternoon in Venice, a visiting family\u00a0spread a tablecloth over the top of an historic well to lunch on homemade food amid the\u00a0Renaissance-era\u00a0ambience. It was a thrifty alternative to spending money at local eateries, but\u00a0authorities were having none of it.\u00a0 \u201cThey have been severely fined,\u201d said Simone Venturini, a Venice city councilor, who\u2019s […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":16858,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[6],"tags":[],"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/geworld.ge\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/16857"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/geworld.ge\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/geworld.ge\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/geworld.ge\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/geworld.ge\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=16857"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/geworld.ge\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/16857\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":16859,"href":"https:\/\/geworld.ge\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/16857\/revisions\/16859"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/geworld.ge\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/16858"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/geworld.ge\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=16857"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/geworld.ge\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=16857"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/geworld.ge\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=16857"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}