Winter 2022

Oversized Visitors A cruise ship leaves Venice, Italy. The cruise ship, which arrived in Venice for the first time in 17 months, signaled the return of tourists after the coronavirus pandemic but enraged those who decry the impact of the giant floating hotels on this world heritage site. Natural and heritage sites around the world are under threat from over-tourism. As crowds flock to see unique sights, they become inadvertent destroyers of the very thing they’ve come to enjoy. The port in Venice (as in most ports around the world) can’t provide enough electricity to keep the services and amenities running onboard the ships, so ship engines run 24/7 to produce electricity. Ship fuel is 1,500 times more polluting than car fuel, and a 100,000-ton ship will displace 50 million liters of water (the quantity of 20 Olympic-sized swimming pools) when entering a small location such as Venice. The movement of these massive amounts of water erodes the hundreds of years old foundations of the palaces and houses of Venice. The heavy digging of the canals to allow big ships to enter the Venetian Lagoon increases the amount of water that enters and exits the lagoon during tides, which increases the intensity of high tides, and partially floods the city. SOLUTION: Most historical sites around the world were built to a smaller scale than what we experience today. Try and arrive, enjoy and leave a destination as the original inhabitants might have done. It will allow you to fully appreciate the culture and unique sense of place, without dominating it.

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