Post date: Sep 16, 2015 1:22:40 PM
Since the 1960's, the population of Venice has been seeing a steady decline. Simply put, the permanent residents are moving out. The full-time Venetian resident is becoming rarer and rarer to the point where in October 2009, the population was half of what it was 30 years before. Researchers have predicted that by 2030,, there may not be a single full time resident of Venice left (http://www.newsweek.com/why-are-venetians-fleeing-venice-76751). This occurrence is not something that the remaining Venice locals are taking lightly. To mourn the dwindling population of their city, a group of dedicated Venetians held a symbolic funeral once the population dropped below 60,000 in 2009. (http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/europe/italy/6568754/Venice-stages-its-own-funeral-to-mourn-its-population-decline-60000-and-falling.html)
The funeral in progress
We want to look at the causes of why this decline is happening, and try to address them to the best of our ability. Among the reasons listed are some that could be very pertinent to our shops team. For instance, according to the newsweek article, Venice shop owners used to charge two prices: one for the locals and another, steeper price for the tourists. However, there have been increases in overhead costs and they've been forced to charge the heightened prices to more than just the tourists. With our work with the Wakes team to optimize shipping patterns, we could lower that overhead, and maybe ultimately lower prices for Venice natives again. A similar trend follows that with these increasing prices, and the number of tourists who come without spending money, the ones who suffer are the ones who live there. According Antonio Forace, "After the fall of the Berlin Wall we had a very different type of tourist." Not only was this the origin of the Venice day-tripper who packed lunch and didn't spend their money, this was also around the time the population began to decline.
Those were my findings for this week, stay tuned until next time!
-Jon