Venice bans cruise ships: the tightrope walk in tourism

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Beginning of June 2021: After a year and a half of the corona pandemic, a cruise ship arrives in Venice for the first time - accompanied by protests.

The "moving cities" are highly controversial in Venice.

Now the lagoon city on the Adriatic has banned the really big ships from the historic old town.

Frank Hornig, DER SPIEGEL:

»In mid-July the government in Rome passed a new law and just two weeks later, on August 1st, cruise ships were no longer allowed to dock in Venice directly in the city.

The reason for this is UNESCO.

The signals were received in Italy and the great fear that Venice might end up on a blacklist when it comes to this world heritage site.

That would of course have been extremely embarrassing for the country.

And that's why there was suddenly such pressure to act. "

Ships over 180 meters long and 35 meters high and weighing more than 25,000 tons will no longer receive a permit to cross the Venice Lagoon.

In practice, this affects almost all regular cruise ships, of which around 600 annually sailed through the historic canals to the cruise terminal in the west of the old town.

Their waves and suction in the canals permanently damage the fragile water structures of the old town.

In addition, the gigantic ships are a horror for many residents - and not without danger.

In 2019, a cruise ship collided with a dock and a tourist boat in the Giudecca Canal.

Four people were injured.

Above all, the damage to the ecosystem of the lagoon, in which Venice was built centuries ago, is undisputed.

Environmentalists have therefore declared cruise ships to be the enemy, and critics of overtourism also agree with them.

Cruise passengers make up only a relatively small part of the many tourists in Venice.

Frank Hornig, DER SPIEGEL:

“You have to put that in relation.

In Venice, in normal times, well over 20 million visitors come to the city every year.

The cruise ships bring maybe a million passengers there.

(...) So if your goal was to say that there are so many tourists in Venice, it would be very good to maybe bring the number down a bit, then the ships are really just a piece of the puzzle. "

The city is now looking for a new cruise ship dock near the old town.

These are supposed to head for the industrial port of Marghera temporarily.

But there is still no suitable terminal there.

Frank Hornig, DER SPIEGEL:

“They can't just dock and get out between the containers, the passengers.

That said, the major cruise lines are now also unsure of what to do.

Some could dock in Trieste.

It's not just around the corner.

An effort to get the people from there to Venice.

Others are wondering whether they want to remove Venice from their timetable for the moment. "

The cruise guests will be absent for the time being.

But the question remains: How many visitors can the city, which is dependent on income and jobs from tourism, tolerate?

Frank Hornig, DER SPIEGEL:

“Nobody wants tourists to stop coming to town.

The only question is whether there could perhaps be a more sustainable model in the long term.

(...) One would wish, or many in Venice would like it, that there might be a little fewer visitors.

But just that they are here a little longer, they really explore the city, sometimes go to the somewhat hidden corners, sometimes also see the attractions from the second or third row. "

For many people in Venice the last few months have been a welcome respite from mass tourism.

But the city cannot do without the money that tourists bring in for long.

Some of the Venetians will therefore even miss the cruise ships in the city.