If you follow my blog a few weeks ago I talked about Andrea Orlando who is the Italian environmental minister who is against cruise ships entering the Grand Canal which is the main waterway to Venice terminal. Last weekend around 50 protesters jumped into the water and delayed the sailings of ships up to an hour which can have huge cost implementations on the cruise companies.
Protesters claim the ships are threatening Venice's fragile foundations and want the port moved to an island away from the city. They are saying that passengers use the city for its airport, which is in close proximity to the cruise terminal and don't stay before or after the cruise.
Yes, many people fly into Venice to join the ship but nowadays many passengers fly out a few days prior to sailing and do spend their money in the shops and restaurants on Venice Island.
Around 40,000 cruise passengers arrived in Venice last weekend which makes it the bustiest day for cruise passengers this year.
Orlando will put proposals to the Italian government in October on how to change the transit of the cruise ships. I believe that any negative proposals will have a devastating affect to Italy's economy and in a world just coming out of a recession this could be very worrying to Italy economy.
I would love to hear your thoughts.
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