Climate Change in Venice: Impact on Tourism and Future Prospects

This report discusses the impact of climate change on tourism in Venice, applying greenhouse theory and conspiracy theory. It also explores current issues in Venice, such as erosion of its original identity, and the future prospects of climate change in the region.

Running Head: TOURISM MANAGEMENT
Tourism Management

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Contents
Introduction......................................................................................................................................2
Theories of Climate Change and Their Application in the Real- Life Context...............................2
Current Issues in Venice..................................................................................................................3
Future of Climate Change in Venice...............................................................................................5
Conclusion.......................................................................................................................................6
References........................................................................................................................................8

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Introduction
With the passage of time, tourism has become an important source of income for a number of
countries and regions. A significant amount of income is brought into the local economy through
tourism by way of payment for goods and services required by the tourists. A number of
employment opportunities are also generated in the tourism associated service sector of the
economy.
Climate change can be defined as the changes taking place in the statistical distribution of the
weather patterns and that change persists for a significant period of time such as decades to
millions of years. Tourism is considered to be highly vulnerable to tourism as it results in
increasing the insurance costs and safety concerns, damage to attractions and assets at the
destinations and biodiversity loss. Also, the tourism sector is negatively impacted due to
continued climate driven disruption and degradation to the natural and cultural heritage (Becker,
2016). This further leads to the reduced attractiveness of the destinations and decrease in the
economic opportunities for the local communities. Moreover, tourism is also capable of
addressing the climate change issue with the help of fully mobilizing and orienting the
innovativeness and resources of this global economic sector. The topic selected for the purpose
of this assignment is climate change in Venice.
Theories of Climate Change and Their Application in the Real- Life Context
The most important climate change theory is the greenhouse theory which provides the
restoration of the climate system to equilibrium through the warming of the surface troposphere
system along with the cooling of the stratosphere. There is a partial absorption of the incoming
solar light and atrial reflection by the surface of the earth. With the passage of time, the carbon-
dioxide has increased in the atmosphere thereby leading to the increase in the average global
temperature (Lejeusne, Chevaldonné, Pergent- Martini, Boudouresque and Pérez, 2010).
The application of the greenhouse theory in the context of climate change in Venice provides
that Venice is expected to disappear underwater within a century is the levels of global warming
is not lowered. The global warming has led to the forecast of rise of the Mediterranean Sea by up
to 140 cm before the year 2100 (Roson and Sartori, 2014). This rise is expected to swamp the

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parts of Italy west coast and 176- mile long coastline in the North Adriatic. This is the result of
the greenhouse gas emissions. Furthermore, the environmental and local infrastructures will be
subsequently impacted as the consequence of the loss of land (Walker, 2017).
Another key theory of climate change is the conspiracy theory which raises certain claims on the
scientific consensus of on global warming on the basis of the conspiracies on the production of
manipulated data and suppressed dissent. The influence of the humans has been detected in the
global warming of the atmosphere, oceans and the rise of the sea level and changes in the global
water cycle (Andrews, 2018).
The application of conspiracy theory in the context of climate change in Venice provides the
increased impacts including the erosion of the historic fabric. The entire international community
is required to act collectively for the purpose of preserving this unique place of the mankind.
Venice is facing climate change in terms of rising sea levels, droughts and deadly storms which
are the extreme weather trends. The greenhouse gas emissions can be dealt by the countries
collectively in order to cut it completely by the year 2050 (Douglas and Sutton, 2015).
Current Issues in Venice
Climate change in Venice is the most important current issue which is affecting the tourism of
the area to a great extent. Even when the city is suffering from the climate change issues, there
has been no impact on the tourism in the region. The tourists have continued to increase from the
past 10 years and the current estimated arrivals per day is 60,000 (Xinhua, 2012). The massive
influx of tourists has resulted in the inconvenience for the local residents due to which the
concerns for the future of the city and its identity have started growing. In other words, the
original characteristics of Venice will be lost somewhere due to excessive inflow of tourists
along with the exodus of the native people. The economy of the city has become completely
tourism- oriented and its original identity has been eroded (Financial Times, 2011).

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Figure 1 Number of Foreign Tourists arrivals in Venice from 2011 to 2016
(Source: Statista, 2018)
The topic i.e. climate change in Venice have significantly impacted the local livelihoods as well
as it has increased the cost of living in the area. The housing costs are further increasing as a
result of the fact that the tourists are competing for obtaining accommodation with the locals in
order to have a close view of their livelihood. The climate change in the area has further reduced
the establishments of businesses along with the shifting of already existing businesses to other
regions which, in turn, have reduced the job opportunities in the region. The promotion of
inclusivity is also becoming difficult due to climate change (Urry, 2015).

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Figure 2 Flooding of Sea Water in the City of Venice
(Source: Walker, 2017)
Generally, it is noticed that there is high sensitivity in the tourism due to the fact that the quality
and length of the tourism sessions are dependent on the climate. Such kind of influenced
environmental conditions both deter and attract the visitors to the place. It is true that Venice
suffers from over tourism which has also been recently reported as the climate change issue as
there is a link between climate change and global warming. However, this issue can be resolved
through the dispersal of tourists to some other place or spreading the time of their arrival over the
year, month or week. Since there is a continuous increase in the number of tourists in Venice
then the impact of the widely- distributed tourists will continue to grow too (Intergovernmental
Panel on Climate Change, 2015). The climate change of Venice is creating issues for the tourism
stakeholders as they have a stake in the environment also. In this way, they are also responsible
for the mitigation of the emissions taking place within the industry. This can be done with the
help of the mitigation policies for tourism greenhouse gas emissions.
Future of Climate Change in Venice
The innovations that will take place in the future will be on the basis of the adoption of new
technology by Venice for the purpose of responding comprehensively to the climate change

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conditions. In the foreseeable future, climate change will be affected by further increase in the
greenhouse gases in the atmosphere. Furthermore, there are a number of factors on which the
future changes in the climate will depend such as natural influences on climate (for example,
changes in the intensity of the sun and from volcanic activity) and the natural processes of the
climate system (such as the changes taking place in the patterns of ocean circulation). Moreover,
the temperature is expected to change further in the future. These issues may lead to a
significant decline in the tourism of the region (Zachariadis, 2016).
Figure 3 Temperature Patterns of Venice
(Source: Zachariadis, 2016)
The increase in the greenhouse gas emissions is an issue which is very difficult to be treated
unless billions of tons of the annual emissions decrease substantially. However, collective efforts
are required for the purpose of treating this issue. Still, there are chances that the issue can be
dealt with. The intensity of global warming will increase in the coming years. The impact of
climate change will not only be on the tourism of Venice due to extreme weather conditions,
temperature and climatic factors but will also have an indirect impact on the natural environment
of Venice which attracts the tourists (Mowforth and Munt, 2015).
There is a requirement of the adoption of a successful strategy in future for the purpose of
bringing a significant reduction in the greenhouse gas emissions. Appliances, vehicles and
machineries should use such technologies in order to use the energy in an efficient manner.

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Conclusion
Therefore, it can be concluded that the source of income of a number of countries depends on
tourism. The topic selected for the purpose of this assignment is climate change in Venice.
Tourism is considered to be highly vulnerable to tourism as it results in increasing the insurance
costs and safety concerns, damage to attractions and assets at the destinations and biodiversity
loss. This report applies greenhouse theory and conspiracy theory in the context of climate
change in Venice. Venice face the issues of erosion of its original identity as the city has
completely become tourism- oriented. Venice suffers from over tourism which is further
contributing towards global warming. Furthermore, it is expected that a number of innovations
will take place in the future with the help of which these climate change conditions can be
managed. The increase in the greenhouse gas emissions is the issue which is further expected to
increase in future.

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References
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https://grist.org/article/the-real-fear-behind-climate-conspiracy-theories/ [Accessed on: 20
November 2018].
Becker, E., 2016. Overbooked: the exploding business of travel and tourism. Simon and
Schuster.
Douglas, K.M. and Sutton, R.M., 2015. Climate change: Why the conspiracy theories are
dangerous. Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists, 71(2), pp.98-106.
Financial Times. 2011. Climate change: who cares any more?, [Online]. Available at:
https://www.ft.com/content/1b5e1776-df23-11e0-9af3-00144feabdc0 [Accessed on: 20
November 2018].
Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, 2015. Climate change 2014: Mitigation of climate
change (Vol. 3). Cambridge University Press.
Lejeusne, C., Chevaldonné, P., Pergent-Martini, C., Boudouresque, C.F. and Pérez, T., 2010.
Climate change effects on a miniature ocean: the highly diverse, highly impacted Mediterranean
Sea. Trends in ecology & evolution, 25(4), pp.250-260.
Mowforth, M. and Munt, I., 2015. Tourism and sustainability: Development, globalisation and
new tourism in the third world. Routledge.
Roson, R. and Sartori, M., 2014. Climate change, tourism and water resources in the
Mediterranean: A general equilibrium analysis. International Journal of Climate Change
Strategies and Management, 6(2), pp.212-228.
Statista. 2018. Number of overnight foreign tourist arrivals in the city of Venice, Italy from 2011
to 2016 (in 1,000s), [Online]. Available at:
https://www.statista.com/statistics/732572/international-tourist-arrivals-in-venice-italy/
[Accessed on: 20 November 2018].

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Urry, J., 2015. Climate change and society. In Why the social sciences matter (pp. 45-59).
Palgrave Macmillan, London.
Walker, P. 2017. Venice will vanish underwater within a century if global warming is not stalled,
climate change study warns, [Online]. Available at:
https://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/europe/venice-will-vanish-within-a-century-study-
warns-a7614591.html [Accessed on: 20 November 2018].
Xinhua. 2012. Feature: Concerns about future, identity grow in Venice amid influx of tourists,
[Online]. Available at: http://www.xinhuanet.com/english/2017-09/12/c_136604363.htm
[Accessed on: 20 November 2018].
Zachariadis, T., 2016. Climate Change Impacts. In Climate Change in Cyprus (pp. 25-49).
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