Overtourism’s impact on Venice
Obviously, life for those remaining local residents is impaired by this influx of day trippers and tourists. On any given day, they are forced to negotiate crowds and put up with noisy wheelie suitcases, selfie sticks and often disrespectful behaviour – swimming in canals, picnicking on bridges – as they try to go about their daily lives. They see the city they love being littered; they watch vast cruise ships chug up and down the Giudecca Canal four or five times a day, emitting fumes before disgorging thousands of people; and they reflect on how the artisan spirit of the city has been eroded.
Overtourism’s impact stretches way beyond quality of life, though. With time, overtourism changes the balance of economic incentives for a whole range of businesses that are important in defining the character of a city. The food, the goods in shops, even the music being played in bars all lean towards the tourist taste, and increasingly fail to cater for
