Cruise tourism and urban development in Venice

Note on the source. This source should be read with caution: it may be funded by the sector, a draft or a thesis, or rely on self-reported or modelled data. See the limitations below.

The question

Does Venice gain a net benefit from cruises, and is their development sustainable? The report assesses economic, environmental and traffic impacts, analyses policies (including the ban on large ships and alternative routes) and makes recommendations.

The method

ITF policy analysis based on port statistics and 2014 ship traffic data (488 calls), a review of studies on spending and emissions, existing surveys of cruise passenger movements, and a study visit with interviews with about 30 stakeholders; reviewed by an external academic reviewer.

What the study finds

64%of cruisers using the shuttle to the terminalThe terminal is a few hundred metres from Piazzale Roma (p. 20). According to a 2011 survey, cruise passengers staying in the city before or after their cruise mainly use the dedicated automated shuttle (64% to get to the terminal, 47% to reach the city), followed by waterborne public transport, water taxis and walking.

73.2%of embarking passengers going straight to the shipA 2011 survey cited in the report shows that most embarking or disembarking passengers go straight to the ship (73.2%) or leave straight after landing (71.1%); only 24.2% and 16.5% spend at least one night in the city before or after the cruise. The figures exclude stays booked through cruise lines.

≈ 500,000cruise passengers a year staying in town, estimateThe report judges cruise tourism's share of urban congestion to be modest: of roughly 1.7 million cruise passengers a year, the port authority estimates that only about 500,000 stay in the city as tourists.

23 dayswith at least five ships in port in 2014Ship presence is uneven: in 2014 there were 4 days with seven ships in port at the same time and 23 days with at least five, mostly clustered around weekends.

Transit calls are the biggest operational challenge: thousands of passengers need to reach the centre as fast as possible, yet only two or three boats, mostly with 100 seats, can berth at the terminal at once.
According to a study cited in the report, the voluntary agreement between cruise lines and the port authority to use lower-sulphur fuel (since 2007) helped reduce sulphur emissions by 32% between 2007 and 2012.
Based on earlier studies cited in the report, city spending by embarking/disembarking passengers depends heavily on overnight stays: on average EUR 19 with no nights in the city, EUR 109 with one night, EUR 494 with two and EUR 690 with three or more; a transit passenger spends about EUR 107.

Why it matters for ports and cities

According to the report, in Venice a terminal a few hundred metres from the centre, served by a dedicated shuttle and well linked to the airport, has a modest effect on urban traffic; the pressure points are rather days with several ships at once and moving transit passengers quickly. The report also recommends embedding cruise policy in an overall tourism strategy (for example quotas, entry tickets, local taxes).

Limitations

A policy report relying on secondary studies (spending, emissions, transport modes from a 2011 survey) with no new data collection on flows. It was funded by the port authority and the terminal operator; the data stop at 2014-2015.

Full reference and source

Merk, O., Busquet, B. (2016). Cruise Shipping and Urban Development: The Case of Venice. International Transport Forum (ITF/OECD) – Case-Specific Policy Analysis.

Read the original study ↗

Summary written by the ODYBOAT Observatory in our own words. Tables and figures belong to the authors.