Tourism in Venice is Reaching Meltdown

[JGolomb]

Tourism in Venice is Reaching Meltdown

 

Here's a terrific video of John Julius Norwich, famed historian, discussing how Venice is rapidly becoming a rich man's Disneyland. He touches on some other things as well, and the video includes some nice Venetian photography.

 

Is Venice doomed to become nothing more than a shell of glories past? Lord Norwich is skeptical: "In another 20 or 30 years it will actually be the thinking man's Disneyland, a millionaire's playground," he says. "There won't be any people there: it will just be a museum city." Rising tides may yet claim Venice, but unless she gets help soon the city as we know her will have long since disappeared.

[Klingan]

Reaching meltdown? Venice is absolutely terrible already and I'm actually surprised that it has't already sunk under the weight of all the tourists.

[Melvadius]

Reaching meltdown? Venice is absolutely terrible already and I'm actually surprised that it has't already sunk under the weight of all the tourists.

 

I wouldn't necessarily say it is terrible if you go out of the main tourist periods, on our first visit we went for a weekend in late October and there were some good events on which we could get to from a reasonable hotel on the main islands and with realtively few tourists about.

 

We then made the mistake of going during Carnival when it sometimes seemed to be a case of only being able to move in some of the narrower passageways when someone breathed out.

[JGolomb]

Reaching meltdown? Venice is absolutely terrible already and I'm actually surprised that it has't already sunk under the weight of all the tourists.

I was in Venice in late June of this year and didn't find the crowds out of control at all. I think we may have beaten the serious tourist rush by a few weeks and it's possible that the down economy kept tourism down overall in Europe.

 

I also felt like I saw a solid number of folks who appeared to be full time residents - parents with kids carrying their bikes over canal bridges, kids knocking around a soccer ball, etc. The city felt very genuine to me, not all that different than any large US city with tons of tourists and tourist trappings.

 

J

[sylla]

Here is a nice Map on the expected effect on Venice of the sea level rise from the ongoing global warming.

[JGolomb]

Here is a nice Map on the expected effect on Venice of the sea level rise from the ongoing global warming.

Hm. Doesn't bode well for the little city, eh?

 

I think that global warming would have a far more disastrous effect than wealthy tourists...

 

J

[Klingan]

Here is a nice Map on the expected effect on Venice of the sea level rise from the ongoing global warming.

 

Going slightly off topic, but I gotta love that the map is set to +7 as default. That's what I call serious global-warming-mania.

[Melvadius]

Here is a nice Map on the expected effect on Venice of the sea level rise from the ongoing global warming.

 

Going slightly off topic, but I gotta love that the map is set to +7 as default. That's what I call serious global-warming-mania.

 

I love the speckle effect across some of the higher areas of Venice even at '0m'. Now I know that Aqua Alta is a concern in Venice when St Mark's Square can be flooded but when I tried zooming in and with different settings that was one area which seemed to survive even a 3 or 4m rise in sea levels - while the train station along with its raised causeway and the raised docks in the west of the main city started to sink beneath the waves.

 

Pssibly the third paragraph should have been a giveaway to its 'accuracy':

 

'This map is not a carefully surveyed and extremely accurate presentation. It is intended to provide a visual impression of which geographic areas might be flooded if global warming and climate change continue unabated. '

Edited November 20, 2009 by Melvadius

[sylla]

Amazing as it may sound, as the sea level is rising globally (it's just one sea, after all)... guess what (you won't believe it)

Edited November 20, 2009 by sylla

[Melvadius]

Amazing as it may sound, as the sea level is rising globally (it's just one sea, after all)... guess what (you won't believe it)

Edited November 20, 2009 by Melvadius

[sylla]

Amazing as it may sound, as the sea level is rising globally (it's just one sea, after all)... guess what (you won't believe it)

Edited November 20, 2009 by sylla

[Melvadius]

Nowhere have I denied the obvious implications of your postings. '

 

I could argue the point of

'guess what (you won't believe it)'

but will accept you didn't mean it the way it looked.

 

Irrespectively of the source, climate prediction (either "optimistic" or "pesimistic") is hardly an exact science.

 

Which has not been argued against on this thread simply the misleading representation of it on the link you supplied.

 

The relevant message here is acknowledging the magnitude of the current undisputable trends; given enough time, Venice will one day vanish under the sea; simple as that.

 

(And "enough time" doesn't mean the next Geological Era...)

 

As you have said it is not an exact science, but geology and climate change will affect and eventuallly change the face of all standing archaeology as we know it surviving today, so enough said on that issue here.

 

Thanks for that nice link to ScienceDaily.

 

You are welcome.

[sylla]

I could argue the point of

'guess what (you won't believe it)'

but will accept you didn't mean it the way it looked.

You can argue all you want on what you look; have I cared for your best opinion, I would have directly adressed you (e.g. this post).

... simply the misleading representation of it on the link you supplied..

From Merriam-Webster (SIC): "mislead: to lead in a wrong direction or into a mistaken action or belief often by deliberate deceit... to lead astray : give a wrong impression".

 

The link I posted could hardly be considered "misleading", simply because it explicitly acknowledged its own limitations, as you were well aware (post #8 from this same thread) (SIC):

 

Pssibly the third paragraph should have been a giveaway to its 'accuracy':

 

'This map is not a carefully surveyed and extremely accurate presentation. It is intended to provide a visual impression of which geographic areas might be flooded if global warming and climate change continue unabated.

 

"Misleading" would have been deliberately ignoring such obvious fact, or even worse, trying to disguise with a red herring the evident fact that, under the ongoing trends and given enough time, Venice will one day vanish under the sea.

 

In any case, historically

Edited November 20, 2009 by sylla

[Melvadius]

Here is a nice Map on the expected effect on Venice of the sea level rise from the ongoing global warming

 

Over what timescale precisely? Enough said.

Edited November 20, 2009 by Melvadius

[sylla]

Here is a nice Map on the expected effect on Venice of the sea level rise from the ongoing global warming

 

Over what timescale precisely? Enough said.

I can't be sure, but it seems that you have nothing else to say on the core arguments previously exposed by me all along this thread; God forbids, we may even agree...

 

In spite of that, I'm sure this will not be "enough" until you say "the last word"; thanks in advance.