2023-05-03 10:50:14
With the resumption of the high tourist season, some Italian cities have recently implemented a panoply of measures to curb the harmful effects of mass tourism.
Last to date, the region of Liguria (northern Italy) which foresees more tourists than last year, already marked by a flow of 3 million, judged by the local authorities as ” excessive and unmanageable« .
In this sense, the Autonomous Province of Bolzano has introduced a limit on the number of bed places in each municipality. In total, 34 million overnight stays will be authorized per year, reports the ANSA press agency. The new rules were approved after a long debate on the province’s economic development and opportunities.
« For the future, we have chosen to bet on quality and no longer on quantity“, emphasizes the provincial councilor for tourism, Arnold Schuler, explaining that the limit of bed places has been introduced because the number of tourists arriving in 2019 can no longer be exceeded.
« In addition to the crowding in the streets, the increase in housing offered on platforms like Airbnb is disrupting the real estate sector in the city“, he specifies.
According to a recent study titled “ Spatial development ambitions in South Tyrol: Towards a new tourism culture“, mass tourism can have adverse effects on the cost of living, transportation, and the social and ecological sustainability of the region.
In Venice, one of the Italian cities where the proliferation of short-term rentals is causing the most problems, the organization called High Tension Housing (ATA) has presented a bill which provides the possibility for municipalities to limit the number of short-term rental housing with the possibility of identifying areas where this limitation applies.
Discussions and awareness raising on this issue had already started before the pandemic blocked the arrival of tourists from all over the world. In addition to competing with hotels, accommodations made available on Airbnb have contributed to increasing the cost of rentals, with a dynamic similar to that of many other European cities, notes the publication.
Tourism in Italy has resumed its pre-pandemic colors. The Demoskopika institute thus forecasts 61 million foreign tourists this year, an overall increase of 12.2% compared to 2022. An important sector of the transalpine economy, tourism represents, according to the Bank of Italy, around 5% of GDP and 6% of jobs in the peninsula, and will benefit from investments of up to 8 billion euros as part of the European recovery plan.
The World Tourism Organization (UNWTO) reported that international tourism is back to 60% of pre-pandemic levels. “Tourism continues to recover steadily, but several challenges remain, from geopolitics to economics. Now is the time to rethink tourism, where it is going and how it impacts people and the planet,” said UNWTO Secretary-General Zurab Pololikashvili.
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