eat-and-run tourists
 

"turisti mordie fuggi" eat-and run tourists

Venice is having trouble coping with an influx of visitors. 12,000,000 per year! And the Venice population is 65,000. What should they do? What can they do? Visit <www.iht.com/articles/106490.htm> Learn what Venice hosts think about some guests.

On one hand I understand and sympathize. Especially about the trash and the knuckle heads who have no clue about how to dress when touring a city.
But on the other hand, maybe because I also live in a huge city, they should be happy people are coming. How loud would they cry if no one came and they all just sat around?
Many people want to see Venice as well as many other places, but it is soo expensive! Which is better, to see it any way you can or the way 'they' want you to?
Instead of charging people for going to church, that would also be the people who are paying for expensive hotel rooms and three meals a day, there needs to be a way that some people learn how to go out in the world with a little sophistication! Wear a shirt!

It is too bad for the residents to live with that kind of daily influx. I'm not sure what they can do.

It's sad in a way that the finger is pointing at day-trippers (right or wrong) and the first option listed is to tax those that aren't day-trippers. Still, that's the case in the US in most cities, that hotel room taxes are probably higher than any other kind of tax. It's advantageous to obtain a source of revenue other than from those who vote locally.

Prohibiting the parking or unloading of buses other than public transport in certain city centers might help tone down volume. Not sure how you'd apply that to Venice though.

Not bad, GSteed. Thanks for the heads-up. I think 65,000 is a bit generous or may include all the British apartment owners who rent their places 10 months out of the year.

Venetian locals struggle daily with the nuisance of day-trippers and the rising number of visitors who could care less. Litter in Venice has escalated dramatically with the rise of bus and tour groups flowing in and, let's face it, these folk aren't pretty. Venice's "sinking" press only fuels the situation by encouraging more and more people to come and get their last glimpse. No wonder shopkeepers and waiters are losing their ability to serve with a smile. They deal with the ugly side of tourism every minute of every day. I see similar frowns and bitter faces on the first-floor personnel of Saks Fifth Avenue every Christmas. At least when Christmas passes they get a break and life returns to normal.

Venice's mayor is wrong to tax hotel patrons. These aren't the folks who care little about this precious city. All Venice lovers should participate in a writing campaign to suggest a taxation on those visitors NOT staying overnight in Venice. In NYC, if you want to drive into Manhattan, you're required to pay a toll. Part of the purpose is to control car volume in the city. A similar idea could work with visitors to Venice.

Well, in that case, I'll just have to schedule my entire vacation in Tuscany. It'll break my heart. Anybody know if there is enough food, wine, and open space to go around? ((b))

Hi NYC,

Any suggestions on how to tax ONLY day-trippers in Venice? No cars.

Along with every vaporetto ticket, include a trash bag and a card in x languages explaining what it is for, and where to properly dispose of same. Ditto for tickets to the Doges Palace and the treasury, etc. in Saint Mark's.

But as we know, littering is a problem that isn't unique to Venice. Many people seem to think littering in a movie theatre is a right acquired with the cost of admission. A trip report posted elsewhere complained of how some people applied the same theory to train cars in Italy.

Steep littering fines, not hotel taxes, strike me as more appropriate.

OK, not everyone can afford to come to Venice. So? This is a new issue threatening mankind, lol? Tell me when to weep! Since 12m are visiting, 65k living/serving, where's the issue? Most who work in Venice live outside, due to the expense, and thus join the other commuters. Sounds like typical daily life in a touristy city.

Since Venice has no self-supporting economy (lagoon fishing, you say?), it's tourists who make the mutli-billion investment in flood gates viable. Otherwise, sink city!

Anyone familiar with Venice's environs and approaches (reading Rick Steeves doesn't count) will instantly recognize that "taxing" visitors would be a relatively easy matter - entry fees imposed at all embarcation points. It all begins and ends with water, unless you plan to swim in or take a private cruiser.

Lets not wring our hands about tourists. It makes the skin age.

This fact has put me off visiting Venice for some time now. I really don?t want to be part of that 12 million. It seems very strange that they want to tax those that are staying over night, as it is the 'Tuesday must be Venice' crowd that are the problem. People who want to stay for some days and put some real money into the economy, instead of some tour operator should be encouraged.

Ira: When your hotel or sponsor registers you with the local police via passport, the requisite 5 Euro tax is credited to your bill. If you paid the tax on any ticket that provides drop-off service at Ferrovia, Piazzale Roma, or Marco Polo your host can provide an additional 5 Euro credit. It may not be a perfect solution but at least it taxes the source. If you can't afford 5 Euro to visit Venice for the day, then go to Disneyland.

Another reason not to visit the pidgeon infested Venice. There is much more to Italy than Venice.

Too fast on the keys... meant "Pigeon".

It seems to me that a tax was imposed on all tourist buses arriving in Venice (maybe 4-6 months ago). At least this was proposed, don't honestly know if it was instituted. I agree that taxing those who stay in Venice doesn't seem fair, since the daytrippers seem to be the problem. Perhaps in addition to the bus tax (assuming there is one) the passengers on the bus could also be taxed. At least then the cost of clean-up would come from those allegedly causing it.

I've never understood littering. It's so easy to dispose of trash. Even if a waste can isn't handy, I carry ours around until I find one. Not a really tough thing to do!

It's a shame this is happening in Italy (our favorite country), but I have felt for some time that tourists are loving it death.

Hi NYC,

Good idea.

12 million divided by 365 days

means that Venice gets 32,876.71 tourists A DAY...average

that means PER DAY an ADDITIONAL 32,876.71 candy bar wrappers, 65,753.42 tickets and ticket stubs, 98,630.13 used napkins, 263,013.68 pieces of kleenex tissues ... just to mention a few of the additional garbage items that have to be hauled out by train or vaporetto
(have not included all the items of clothing, mostly underwear, that some folks on this forum advise leaving behind)

no wonder Venice is sinking! :)

Thanks for the link to the article, GS.

While I can understand ire about people going bare-chested in Piazza San Marco, I don't quite understand the ire about people wearing shorts. After all, it's not as if they're starkers from the waist down.

Likewise with having a picnic vs. littering. People having a picnic doesn't seem that horrible to me, but I think troglodytic tourists who can't be bothered with the simple task of throwing away their trash should be cast into a cell in the Doge's Palace along with 100 pigeons and their inimitable form of littering.

Re: <i>But what Costa - and other mayors - would really like is to tax tourists coming into the city, or at least those who stay overnight, as a way to offset the costs of cleaning up after those who just swing through during the day.</i>

I understand targeting overnight tourists -- since it would be easier to levy a tax on hotel rooms -- but it's ironic that these mayors would make overnight visitors pay for the sins of daytrippers, who seem to be the source of most of the complaints. Oh well, Roberto Benigni's movie was called &quot;Life is Beautiful&quot;, not &quot;Life is Fair.&quot; :)

I like this: &gt;If you can't afford 5 Euro to visit Venice for the day, then go to Disneyland&lt;

Too true except that I hear Disneyland admission is closer to $30. Hmm, Venice for $5 seems like a big big bargain to me.

Just mulling... Maybe give the residents permanent vaporetto passes, hike the ticket price on everyone without a pass? Overnight tourists hit the hotel, walk a lot, maybe ride a couple of times. Daytrippers in the usual hurry chip in as soon as they pay the fare and locals just flash the pass. Maybe hotels could sell their guests discount passes time-restricted to the length of stay.

First let me say that I love Venice, BUT, it is impossible to regulate politeness and consideration for othres.

Also, if tourists are such a bother, there is only one solution, tourists can stop going to the city! I lived in Monterey/Carmel in California for 5 years, and we also would get invaded by tourists. Some people complained about the tourists, however, when the economy went down hill and the price of gasoline was so high that people were not traveling as much those same people complained because they weren't making money because the tourists weren't there.

Therefore, I think a city either has to deal with the problems that tourists can bring or sit back and imagine what their city would really be like without the tourists!