In the fourth part in their series on overtourism, Hospitality Investor took a look at one of the destinations that has become synonymous with the issue: Venice. If you missed the previous articles, you can catch-up here.
But it is still happening and impacting the remaining residents, agreed Michael O’Regan, a lecturer in tourism and events at the Glasgow School for Business and Society in the Glasgow Caledonian University.
He added while cruise ship passengers might be an obvious target for local anger, simply banning them outright is not as easy, or as welcome, as it sounds.
O’Regan said: “They can try to limit the number of cruise ships or the size of them; the tool box is there but for many politicians it’s a difficult step because iy might lead to degrowth or job losses or local people missing out on rising incomes.”
He added cruise ships will also have contracts with local ports guaranteeing their visits which can’t be easily broken while moving ships to a nearby port and bussing in the passengers simply drives up traffic and pollution on the roads.
O’Regan said: “The Venetian authorities should have a long-term strategy as to maybe reducing the size of ships or capping the number of passengers. If airports can cap their passenger numbers then cruise terminals can do that too.”