Venice to charge fees and surveil tourists

[athena53]

It's the tourists that swim in the canal, swarm at attractions that cause issues.

You are 1 or 2 people and won't make it more crowded when you consider 5.5 Million went in 2019.

I like what I read in a book about the Galapagos- "Go once, then leave it for others to enjoy". That was my plan for the South American trip that was truncated in March, 2020 before we could get that far and that's my plan after (God willing) I get there in May of next year.

 

[HawkOwl]

I've been following this Venice issue for some time and the above hits a big point. Day trip visitors, whether they arrive by bus, train or cruise ship are not very profitable. They don't rent rooms, they might buy one meal - an inexpensive lunch, and they don't hang around long enough to buy expensive souvenirs. They get that cheap junk made in XXXXXX that we were all criticizing in another thread.

A person who stays overnight (I would recommend two nights minimum) rents a room, buys several dinners, and may have the time to shop for that special souvenir (more $$$'s, but not necessarily so). He/she also gets to see Venice at night, which is magical to say the least.

Venice, like the popular National Parks (Yellowstone for example), follow the same simple rule regarding crowds. The crowds go down with the square of the distance as you get farther away from the Super Star, Must See, Highly Publicized areas.

One warning, if you sit down at a table Piazza San Marco to hear one of the bands that is performing, be prepared to spend 20 euro for an espresso. My child found that out the hard way. But, it was a great time with new friends.

This would make visitors more acceptable to the locals, but would it reduce the negative impact? Longer stays mean more garbage, more laundry, more consumption, more foot traffic beyond the super star sites, and more use of resources from utilities to public transportation.

 

[Sunset]

This would make visitors more acceptable to the locals, but would it reduce the negative impact? Longer stays mean more garbage, more laundry, more consumption, more foot traffic beyond the super star sites, and more use of resources from utilities to public transportation.

The way to minimize the impact of people would be to ban all people from Venice, kick out the residents. That way Venice will last longer

Lets face it humans on earth have an impact, but unless we are all willing to leave today, that will happen.

I don't see why folks of Venice should be the only ones to enjoy it, while suffering in poverty due to a lack of tourism and lack of industry.

 

[timbervest]

So much free time in retirement, so much unspent money, yet no place to go. Sigh...

 

[NW-Bound]

At my age and health, I'll never return to Venice. But, I still have my memories. I kind of wish I'd been just a bit older (I was 17 at the time.) I think I would have appreciated everything more. YMMV

17 was a bit young. Not to say that youths do not know to enjoy exotic locales, but now that we are older, we have more time, and a bit more money to spend without having to count every penny.

Teacher Terry said there were no cruise ship visits in 2003. I went to Venice the same year, and can attest to that. It was already crowded, but it was during the Carnival, and many of the visitors were European. With the added ship cruisers, it would be constantly crowded in all seasons.

Speaking of cruise ships, in my first visit to Barcelona, it was nowhere as bad as my recent visit. The difference is again the cruise ships.

Here in the US, I have been to Bar Harbor a few times over the years, but in the last visit in 2016, I could hardly recognize the place. The difference is again that Bar Harbor became a cruise ship stopping point.

 

[NW-Bound]

This would make visitors more acceptable to the locals, but would it reduce the negative impact? Longer stays mean more garbage, more laundry, more consumption, more foot traffic beyond the super star sites, and more use of resources from utilities to public transportation.

As posted earlier, I arrived in Venice in 2003 on a night train from Naples. We got there early in the morning, probably about 7AM or so. I wandered the train station, looking for a men's room. I walked by a few bars, and there were drunk youths laying on the bars floors, either sleeping or unconscious, I did not know. Apparently, the bars opened late, and the owners did not kick the patrons out, who had no place to go.

When I caught the water shuttle to go into Venice, some stores started to open. I walked by a store owner, who angrily swore at a pile of vomit left at his storefront overnight.

I am sure that businesses and merchants would rather have visitors who stay longer and spend more money than young backpackers. If you have to rely on the crowd to make your living, you want that crowd to be more affluent. That's life.

 

[Sunset]

17 was a bit young. Not to say that youths do not know to enjoy exotic locales, but now that we are older,...

For a long time I've know of the Freudian Slip, where a person says the "wrong thing".

Now I know I have the Freudian Reading Slip ability. I read "enjoy exotic locals"

 

[audreyh1]

I've been following this Venice issue for some time and the above hits a big point. Day trip visitors, whether they arrive by bus, train or cruise ship are not very profitable. They don't rent rooms, they might buy one meal - an inexpensive lunch, and they don't hang around long enough to buy expensive souvenirs. They get that cheap junk made in XXXXXX that we were all criticizing in another thread.

A person who stays overnight (I would recommend two nights minimum) rents a room, buys several dinners, and may have the time to shop for that special souvenir (more $$$'s, but not necessarily so). He/she also gets to see Venice at night, which is magical to say the least.

Venice, like the popular National Parks (Yellowstone for example), follow the same simple rule regarding crowds. The crowds go down with the square of the distance as you get farther away from the Super Star, Must See, Highly Publicized areas.

For sure! That’s been the rub about the giant cruise ship visitors. They may purchase a meal and visit a few attractions, but most of their spending is on the ship.

We did enjoy some of the night time in Venice as we took a late train back to Milan, and it was magical!

But this was late 90s, maybe 97, and way before cruise ships docked in Venice.

 

[rodi]

The cruise ships dwarf the city... taller than most of the buildings. We were there for close to a week as part of our 9 week Euro adventure when I first retired. Picture below shows a cruise ship departing, looking like it was going to come down our 'street' where we were having dinner.

As far as trash - we had a vacation rental apartment and the trash system was awful. You put the trash out in bags on certain mornings... Where small carts would pick them up. The rats and birds tried to get to the trash before the carts. So locals would hook their trashbags up on fences or put them on top of walls. Since trash trucks can't navigate the narrow alleys and big trash bins don't work in those tight spaces, this is the way they do it.

Below is a picture of the cruise ship taller than the buildings.

 

[rodi]

Forgot to say - I totally am fine with needing to book reservations to be in the city. You have to do that for Yosemite these days (tickets for day passes or longer stays to limit the impact.)

 

[Koolau]

The way to minimize the impact of people would be to ban all people from Venice, kick out the residents. That way Venice will last longer

Lets face it humans on earth have an impact, but unless we are all willing to leave today, that will happen.

I don't see why folks of Venice should be the only ones to enjoy it, while suffering in poverty due to a lack of tourism and lack of industry.

This is the compromise the people of Hawaii have made as well. We share the Islands with tourists because we need the money. We are aware that there is a cost in terms of degradation of the natural beauty.

By the way, rodi's picture of the cruise ship looks very similar to the ones which park by Aloha Tower. From the downtown streets of Honolulu, it looks as if the ship has T-boned and then crashed through Nimitz Hwy.

 

[Out-to-Lunch]

Here is one from Ålesund, Norway. The ships just towered over the scenery:

 

[rodi]

I just read that Machu Picchu is also implementing restricted access with timed permits.

https://www.cnbc.com/2021/09/06/what-to-know-about-planning-a-trip-to-machu-picchu-after-the-pandemic.html

Again - I agree with the decision to limit/meter the number of people since this is an important site.