Key West and Venice, Italy: Sisters Under The Skin?

In the June 20, 2013 issue of the New York Review of Books, a long article analyzes the problems in Venice, Italy. Right at the top of the list in the piece by Anna Somers Cocks is the damage inflicted on Venice by cruise ships. In many places in her story one can easily substitute Key West for Venice because the problems are the same, though on a smaller scale.

“On any given day now, except in the winter, you will see these vast white floating hotels, thirteen or fifteen decks high, towering over the ancient rooftops and steeples, being pulled by tugs toward the Doge’s Palace, then turning starboard down the Giudecca Canal. Most are over three times the length of an American football field, with gross tonnage of 100,000 or more (the Titanic was only 46,000 tons). In 1997 there were 206 cruise ships, in 2011, 655, and because they sail into and out of the city by the same canal, that means 1,310 passages—blotting out the view, polluting the air, shaking the houses, and displacing water up into the canals off the Giudecca.”

Venice has recently increased the dockage space to accommodate more ships, just as Key West is considering dredging to allow larger ships to enter the harbor. All the increased dock space in the Italian city has been constructed to permit the very biggest cruise ships. The primary factors in their decision are presented as economic.

“And where there is construction, money flows, jobs are created, votes are won.”

The larger ships and increased dock space has meant a greater influx of tourists in Venice, something that local business owners want. Or at least some of them.

“What is certain, though, is that the 200,000 cruise tourists embarking in Venice in 1990 became 337,000 in 2000, one million in 2007 and reached 1.8 million in 2011. … on just one day in July 2011, six of these ships tied up in port and 35,000 tourists were disgorged all at once.”

Venice has become almost completely dependent upon tourism so it’s difficult for many local people to say no to the cruise industry. And yet, critics there say that the operation of the port contributes nothing to the costs of running the city. Key West does get a fee from disembarkation of cruise passengers but only some businesses see an economic benefit especially those on lower Duval.

Do these cruise tourists stay in the hotels and eat in the restaurants?

“This raises the issue of tourism. The [Venice] management plan, basing itself on the numbers of people that stay overnight in Venice and its environs and are therefore documented, says there are 6.3 million visitors a year, who, multiplied by the average number of days they remain, represent 23 million “presences.” What the management plan does not mention is that many more tourists come just for the day and usually in large groups.”

These are the cruise ship folk who stay on the ships and eat there also. However, the huge numbers make the city very crowded and difficult to navigate.

“Like tourists visiting the Louvre for the first time and making straight for the Mona Lisa, most of these day tourists want to see St. Mark’s Square. What used to be called “the drawing room of Europe” now resembles the crowded concourse of a railway station, with hundreds of people milling around, sitting on the ground, resting on their rucksacks, and eating picnics. A huge queue obstructs the façade of St. Mark’s because the church will not adopt a timed ticket system, and advertisements the size of tennis courts defile the façades.”

Those who benefit from the increased cruise ship trade in Venice are the gondola drivers, the people selling carnival masks, and the pizzerias. Hotel owners need people who spend more than the day trippers and are pleading for those numbers to be reduced. The similarities are striking.

Venice faces additional very difficult problems, not the least of which is sea level rise in an ancient city that sits inches above sea level. Flooding is common there and is getting more common. And yet, not Venice nor Italy nor the world community for that matter wants to directly confront the causes of sea level rise. The ever larger cruise ships contribute greater amounts of greenhouse gases to our atmosphere, as well as pollution into the ocean, and potential damage to the sea bottom.

So the party continues and one has to wonder if the financial and environmental problems also apply to Key West as it faces a crucial vote this fall on dredging to enable larger cruise ships to dock in the Southernmost City. It is worth looking more closely at what is happening, has happened to one of the oldest and most beautiful tourist cities in the world, Venice.

Cocks concludes her article by writing that,

“Sadly, the question of who will save ‘the fairy city of the heart,’ as Byron called it, remains open, and time is running out.”

Is time also running out in Key West?