Claudio Scarpa News Today : Breaking News, Live Updates & Top Stories | Vimarsana

Europe’s tourism boom is creating a headache for the region’s rate-setters

VENICE — Venice and its 80,000 regular inhabitants are drowning in tourists. Some 30 million flock to its famous canals every year, stressing the infrastructure. Fed up, the lagoon city's businessman-turned-mayor, Luigi Brugnaro, has a simple but controversial plan to stem the tide: turnstiles. Cit...

Tourists stroll across St. Mark's square by St. Mark's basilica in Venice earlier this month. AFP In recent months, Piero Dri has luxuriated in the calm of Venice's waterways. Covid-19 restrictions kept tourists away and reduced water traffic to a trickle, allowing him to paddle his traditional mascareta rowboat across the lagoon any time he liked without having to worry about being swamped by the wake of larger craft or even cruise liners. His idyll came to an end about two weeks ago. "The waves were so high … I had to go home. It was only 10 a.m.," said 37-year-...

Covid-19 prompts rethink of mass tourism