Venice’s tourist problem: Are day trippers welcome?
Business Daily
BBC
4.4 • 816 Ratings
🗓️ 5 September 2022
⏱️ 19 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
Italy’s famous floating city has a problem - too many tourists are visiting Venice during the high season. The city authorities recently announced a plan to charge day-visitors a €10 tax during the busiest periods. But many are sceptical about the plan, saying it doesn’t go far enough to address over-tourism.
The BBC’s Vivienne Nunis joins the crowds in St Mark’s Square to assess what can be done when a holiday destination becomes a victim of its own success. And she explores how other popular destinations such as Hawaii and the Isle of Skye in Scotland are addressing the problem.
Producer: Vera Mantengoli
(Image: A gondola in Venice. Credit: BBC)
Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | What's up, y'all? |
| 0:00.9 | I'm Renee Montgomery, and my podcast Untold Legends |
| 0:03.9 | Aura is available now. |
| 0:06.5 | I'm looking back on the life of one of the most extraordinary black female sports stars |
| 0:11.4 | of the 20th century, whose name has been all but forgotten. |
| 0:16.0 | Ora Washington. |
| 0:17.9 | Stay listening at the end of this podcast to find out more. |
| 0:36.6 | Thank you. Washington. Stay listening at the end of this podcast to find out more. Hello and welcome to Business Daily with me, Vivienne Nunes, coming to you from St Mark Square in Venice. |
| 0:43.8 | This is one of the busiest tourist attractions in the world and today crowds are quickly building, |
| 0:49.3 | lining up in the hot sun to visit the famous domed basilica and the historic seat of power, the Doja's Palace. |
| 0:57.4 | Over tourism is something that city authorities are grappling with in many places, but in Venice |
| 1:02.4 | there is a plan. From next year, a tourist tax is set to be implemented on all day visitors, |
| 1:09.1 | those who come and leave the city in the same day. |
| 1:12.2 | It's a controversial move, but the question many Venetians are asking is, will it work? |
| 1:17.6 | We hear from the politician in charge of tourism here. |
| 1:20.8 | It's not an easy task, it's not an easy challenge, but we have to act. |
| 1:25.7 | And we find out what the city's business owners make of it all. |
| 1:29.7 | The people spend money if they feel good. |
| 1:32.8 | If they don't feel good, they don't spend money. |
| 1:35.1 | Taxing tourists in the floating city. |
| 1:38.0 | That's Business Daily from the BBC. |
| 1:46.3 | Well, the sun is already high in the sky here above St Mark's Square, and if I look out in |
... |
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