Are Cruise Ships Killing Venice?

While many city-dwellers loathe the pollution and danger that comes with heavy traffic, the huge behemoths Venetians have to contend with make the average haulage truck look like a child’s toy. In high season, vast cruise ships flock into Venice’s small lagoon, often weighing over 44,000 tons and rising up to ten floors high. They’ve always looked out of place, looming above the city’s rooftops like CGI monsters escaped from a disaster movie, but now they are arriving in numbers never yet seen before.

Since 1999, the number of cruise ship visitors to Venice has risen from 100,000 to 1.7 million. This weekend, an incredible 12 cruise liners entered Venice within 24 hours, containing 35,000 tourists between them.