On Wednesday,the Italian government announced that giant cruise ships could be diverted away from Venice’s centre, where many at present dock.The Italian minister of Infrastructure and transport, Danilo Toninelli in a hearing said their plan is to reroute about one-third of the cruise ships already booked on Venice towards other nearby ports by 2020. Though they have been talking about big ships for 15 years,but nothing has been done so far. These floating palaces will start to go to another place,”
He said diversions could potentially commence as early as September this year.
This key statement of the minister on this issue sparked panicky headlines in global media, with many news reports mean that cruise holiday plans will be disrupted by an impending total ban on cruise ships docking in the city.
However, such reports are absolutely baseless, as for now the idea of diverting some of the ships is nothing more than that: an idea.
“Despite massive media attention, Toninelli didn’t actually ban a single ship. He voiced nothing more than plans during a transport committee meeting.”
In fact, this government meeting was just the first in a long series of planned discussions on the issue.
The rising number of monster cruise liners raises concerns about environmental damage – including acid rain and damage to aquatic species – as well as air pollution putting the health of city residents at risk.
The foremost complaints of the people of Venice were, that the ships were displacing the water levels and damaging the foundations of the city.
Cruise ships are also widely seen as the major contributor to the city’s issues with mass tourism, as they often disgorge thousands of day trippers at a time – who are accused of contributing little to the local economy.
Not only are there some serious practical issues with what the minister is suggesting, but the deep-rooted problems faced by Venice won’t be solved by simply banning cruise ships.
Campaigners in Venice compared the minister’s idea to moving deckchairs on the Titanic – or “changing the position of the buffet when we’re running out of food.”
The government announcement about moving cruiseships is like changing the position of the cream teas buffet when we’re running out of food! The problem has not been resolved yet.