Only on my last visit were the effects of Venice’s myriad of problems in evidence. October is a month of high tides and lots of rain. Part of the Grand Canal and St. Mark’s Square had flooded necessitating raised platforms to be positioned for walking around. It was miserable!
Yet I consider myself fortunate that I never had to visit the city after it permitted the monster cruise ships to ruin the views and disgorge several thousand passengers. Why they were permitted, goodness only knows. Most stay for only 6 – 8 hours. The passengers often eat only on the ships, pay little if nothing for sightseeing, the only cash they disburse being for a tacky souvenir or two. One video on YouTube interviews one of the increasingly large number of Chinese tourists from one of the monsters. They stayed only 3 hours – enough only for a few photos. In that time, it is hardly likely they could even get to see St. Mark’s Square.
No doubt the mooring charges are astronomical and that is one way the city gets its profit. But it has been known for years that uncontrolled tourism is killing Venice. While the huge lagoon barrier system will soon help control the annual flooding, the increasing surge of tourists threatens to do more damage. Though the population is 270,000, only around 50,000 actually live in the historic city. Yet tourists now account for another 55,000+ per day. Most are day-trippers coming by land and sea clogging the narrow pathways and bridges and contributing little to the local economy.
Attempts two years ago to stop the monster cruise ships have inevitably stalled.
Despite laws being passed, the monsters still arrive. The reason? It was going to take four years for a nearby port to be completed. And yesterday the inevitable accident happened. A monster with 2,600 passengers ran out of control as it was docking, resulting in several injuries as it crashed into a small tourist boat with 100 people on board as well as major damage to that boat and lesser damage to itself. But this was just a mini-monster. The bigger ones docking here have more than double the number of decks and can take up to 5,500 passengers.
I wonder if this glorious city with its wondrous past can ever again look as pristine as it did back in 1978.