Post date: Sep 16, 2015 6:18:3 AM
“There is never such a thing as a quite day in Venice!”
That’s how the local people describe Venice. Being visited by millions of people each year, Venice is moving towards a tourism tendency neglecting the needs of the local population and focusing exclusively on tourists’ accommodations. It is normal that many cities have to adapt their economy to satisfy the tourist’s demands, but concentrating too much on these demands is becoming very upsetting for most of the Venetian population. In the book “ Venice Desired” the author express his thoughts on tourisms by saying:” He came to Venice to dream princesses and- he kept seeing tourists. From Ruskin’s time on, a question will often arise to cause discomfort, anxiety and unease to the would-be serious visit to Venice: when is a tourist not a tourist? Or: in coming to Venice can you be anything other than a tourist? “ This quote clearly shows how affected the author and the local people in general are with the large flux of tourists that enter their city everyday.
A research was made by the University of Venezia about the effects of tourism on Venice and the commercial changes that are made during the last thirty years. Several negative effects were identified during the research, and among them the increase in volume and congestion and the gran desire of tourist to visit exclusively the main attractions in the city. That is where the conflict starts as the result of the pedestrian traffic around these main touristic attractions. This level of crowding around the city, and other factors such as the high cost of good and services, the reduction of private and public services, the congestion of the transportation system, have contributed on the declining of the Venetian population. Some interesting results were concluded during the research. The number of the grocery stores versus tourist’s stores in 2007 had almost reversed compared to thirty years ago. There was a visible increase in the number of the pizzerias and restaurants, focused mainly on satisfying the tourists and work commuters. An increase of clothes stores was noticed as well, especially in the central zone. Similar considerations were confirmed towards the main pathways used by tourists by addressing their demands, which reduced the supply of the goods and products of the residents.