Overtourism Venice

In recent years the number of tourists in Venice has increased significantly. More and more people from all over the world have the financial means to travel once in a lifetime to one of the most beautiful cities in the world, Venice. By now there are about 28 million visitors to Venice per year, until the Corona Crisis the numbers have been rising steadily.

The number of tourists arriving on cruise ships has risen particularly sharply. On many days several of the huge ships, each with thousands of people, docked. But also the visitors from Asia like from China, Korea and India. are rapidly increasing. Even in the USA and other countries in North America and South America, Venice is now part of almost every trip to Europe. A lot of tourists also come as day-trippers from the big tourist places like Lido di Jesolo in the surroundings. Also on the mainland near the island of Venice more and more hotels are built. Some campsites around Venice are among the largest in the world.

Very long waiting times at the major sights in Venice. The only way to avoid this is to buy tickets in advance on the Internet. We recommend the website Getyourguide.

On the island of Venice, the number of inhabitants continues to decrease. Many apartments and houses are being converted into vacation apartments and hotels. For the locals, not much more than 50.000, the rents on the island of Venice (old town) are becoming more and more expensive, for the majority unaffordable.

According to a study, Venice can tolerate a maximum of 10 million tourists a year, in 2019 it was already almost 30 million. The whole thing now has a catchword from the English - overtourism. Translates for example overtourism. Other cities in Europe like Barcelona and Amsterdam also lead to overtourism, to too many tourists.

Many places in the city were simply too crowded before Corona. The number of people was sometimes so high that it became dangerous. On some canals there were traffic jams of gondolas. The ferries were completely overcrowded despite very frequent departure times. The situation was especially dramatic in the morning in the trains, buses and streetcars from the mainland over the bridge to Venice. Even at the big sights the queues were on for hours.

 

Very long waiting times at the major sights in Venice. The only way to avoid this is to buy tickets in advance on the Internet. We recommend the website Getyourguide.

Measures against overtourism

For some years now there has been a lot of discussion in Venice about what overtourism can be done. Many measures have been proposed and also implemented.

The number of cruise ships was limited. Especially the cruise tourists are not very popular. They do not stay overnight in hotels and often eat on board. So they bring little money to the economy of Venice.

Special cameras have been set up at over 30 locations in Venice. They are supposed to count the tourists in different much visited areas of the old town. If it gets too much somewhere, certain areas, alleys or squares are closed at short notice.

The hardest measure, however, is the introduction of an entrance fee for Venice between 3 Euros and 10 Euros. Only day tourists who do not stay overnight in Venice should pay this. The others already pay an overnight tax. First this entrance fee for Venice should be introduced at the beginning of 2020. Then this was postponed to mid 2020. Now because of Corona the entrance fee should be introduced in mid 2022 at the earliest. Whether it will ever come is not clear. To our knowledge, no other city in the world generally requires admission for visiting the city.

When Corona erupted in spring 2020, the Veneto region was severely affected. Many thousands of people died. As almost everywhere, hotels were closed, restaurants and stores were closed. Tourists were no longer allowed to come. This hit the economy of Venice very hard, as people lived practically only from tourism. Pictures of the empty St. Mark's Square went around the world, almost all employees in the hospitality industry were out of work. Overtourism is currently (July 2020) no longer a topic of discussion. People have now understood that they need the tourists in Venice and are fighting for their return.

Since the end of June 2020 tourists from many countries, including Germany, Austria and Switzerland, have been allowed to travel to Italy again. However, there are far fewer tourists than before. Cruise ships do not operate at all, the tourists from Asia and America are almost all missing. Hotels that used to cost 200 euros per night are suddenly available for 50 euros and still largely empty.

The overtourism in Venice is over for now, but it will probably come back in a few months or years, to Corona. The entrance fee for Venice has been postponed, at present one tries to bring vacationers into the region of Venice by strong discounts.

In July 2020, prices in the beach regions, such as on the island of Lido di Venezia or in the tourist resort of Lido di Jesolo (a good 20 km from Venice) have already picked up again somewhat. But still only a fraction of the tourists come to the Veneto region and to Venice compared to the summers before.

By the way, the number of people suffering from corona disease has fallen sharply in Veneto. Only very few vacationers have been infected so far. The local governments are also doing a lot to ensure that this remains so (data as of the beginning of July 2020).