The Appeal of Tourism

Post date: Oct 07, 2015 3:49:55 AM

We've written a lot of blogs that show the negative effects that tourism can have on a city, which would make you question why the city wouldn't do something to stop or at least curb it. The answer boils down to one of the simplest reasons; money. Tourism accounts for 161 billion euros worth of revenue for Italy, or roughly 10.3% of the countries GDP as of 2012. Thats a great deal of revenue, which requires few preexisting conditions to flourish. If you have a beautiful or historic site, you'll have a tourist destination. Venice has both, making it a great destination for tourists. What Venice doesn't have are the resources to diversify from this revenue. There isn't room for massive skyscrapers containing large businesses, or room for industrial plants to produce goods, two ways that most modern cities generate interest and thus revenue. This is what makes tourism appeal to those who own the shops in Venice, however. They have realized that specializing in touristy items will bring them the most money. With the increase in day tripping and decrease in overnight stays, store owners have also learned that they need to capture the tourist's attention quickly, which has lead to a decrease in quality. Rather than sell a true, handmade Venetian Carnival mask for 20 euros, sell a fake, plastic knockoff for 2 euros and capture as many sales as you can.

While this lower quality is off-putting to some, your average day tripper wont even notice. And with roughly 55,000 tourists a day visiting a city of 59,000, its easy to see why stores target the tourists.