Hoteliers 'return to Venice, no emergency'

VENICE - "Come to Venice. You will find a beautiful and sustainable city, which in a few hours has returned to normal". A month after the exceptional event of the 'acqua granda' of 12 November, the appeal comes from the Venetian Hoteliers Association, directly to the headquarters of the Foreign Press, to avoid damage to damage: the effect that the images of the submerged city has had on tourists from all over the world.
"From mid-November - says AVA president, Vittorio Bonacini - we have experienced an unprecedented drop in bookings, with a drop that has not been recorded even after the attack on the Twin Towers. In the first month we had a peak of 45% of cancellations "with a hemorrhage" unstoppable even in the first months of 2020, between the cancellation of events, conferences and other important events scheduled in the city until spring.
If Christmas has never been a sold out period - he continues - a striking figure is that of the New Year: last year the occupation was 100%, this year it is under 50 ".
Those images, with the water that entered San Marco, the wind that broke windows and overturned gondolas, went around the world. "High water is an ordinary passing phenomenon, which has always been part of the life of Venetians - continues Bonacini - But that tide has reached an exceptional level due to a very rare coincidence of four absolutely sporadic and extraordinary factors. What is not told is that all that violence lasted an hour and a half, that after three hours the tide left Venice and that the city quickly regained its life ". "With my collaborators - assures the AVA vice-president, Stefania Stea - we pulled up the water at night and the customers at breakfast had not even noticed what had happened. People took care of the shops and resumed their life The fish market was open the next day and today only eight piers don't work. The rest of the city, yes. "
The drastic drop in bookings affects the 400 Ava hoteliers, as well as B & Bs and chain restaurants, merchants, artisans and all related tourism sectors.
In particular, to escape the beauties of Rialto and San Marco, says AVA director, Claudio Scarpa, "we are the American and English market, our first customers". With the French "they represent around 40% of the city's tourist turnover.
And they are the highest spending customers. "To this is added the damage count:" yesterday the Municipality said 400 million, but the deadline for the submission of compensation requests is January 31 ". And then, continues Bonacini," 6 million to the museum system and 30 million to hotel facilities ".
It also fights against paradoxical situations and bad information such as the "letters from customers who tell us they have an 8-year-old son, 125 centimeters tall, asking if Venice is not too dangerous for him, if he risks drowning - Scarpa says - Others they quit 'because of the earthquake'. But the earthquake leaves serious damages. The high water retreats ". And then there is the count of responsibilities and the daily problems of a tourist destination like Venice, from Mose to mass flows.
"Often Venice is clogged with hit and run tourists, who perhaps sleep hundreds of kilometers and only come for a few hours," says Bonacini. According to AVA data, they are 2 out of 3 of the city's 30 million tourists a year. "The tourism that remains remains very different, goes to the Fenice for concerts and discovers our cultural offerings. The problem - he adds - is to manage the flows and begin to quota access for commuter tourism. You cannot get to San Marco all together, at the same time ". As for large ships, he concludes, "we have seen what can happen and must not be repeated. We must begin to find agreements with shipping companies for serious planning and scheduling of accesses to the port of Venice, as happens in the rest of the world". (HANDLE).