Negative Impacts of Tourism in Italy: A Comprehensive Report

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NEGATIVE IMPACT OF TOURISM IN ITALY
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NEGATIVE IMPACT OF TOURISM IN ITALY
Introduction
The tourism industry is known to be highly important for the benefits that bring commercial
activities along with creating demand in different other industries. The presence of tourism is
highly responsible to contribute towards various economic activities and helps to generate further
employment and revenues as well. However, tourism can leave a major negative impact on a
country which can lead it to potential threats. The concerned study showcases the negative
impact of tourism which has been faced by one of the well known European countries, Italy.
Italy is known to be one of the most visited countries while compared to a global scale. The city
is highly renowned for their culture, fashion, art, history and their cuisine as well. In addition to
that, the various negative impacts have been properly explained in the study.
Discussion
Italy has been listed as the fifth most visited country which has its visitors from various parts
across the globe. Most of the visitors come to visit Italy for their highly rich culture along with
history as well. Along with that, their world-class cuisine and fashion are also very famous all
over the world. According to Roca (2016, p. 89), around 58.3 million tourists have visited the
country in the year 2017 (Refer to appendix 1). The presences of beaches, mountains and the
humongous monuments have been considered as major attractions of the country. In Italy,
tourism has been noticed to be one of the fastest growing industries. Along with that, it is known
to be a profitable sector which is having an estimated value of €189 billion in terms of revenue
(Wright and Sharpley, 2018, p. 203). Although the tourism sector plays a major role to increase
the economy of the country, it is also critically responsible to bring various negative impacts on
an overall aspect of the country.
The major tourist attractions have included the city of Rome and the Mediterranean beach play a
crucial factor to retain a lot of visitors to the country. In addition to that, the leaning tower of
Pisa and the various gastronomically delights are amongst factors which manage to attract a lot
of visitors to their threshold. The country has managed to draw a sum of billion $40 billion
dollars within a year (Santeramo et al. 2017, p. 72). The Italian Central Bank has stated that the
visitors can severely damage the main country along with multiple results.
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NEGATIVE IMPACT OF TOURISM IN ITALY
In terms of crowding the tourism of the country has been highly accused of making traffic and
other congestion in the public domain. It has been found that mass tourism has brought major
issues within the scenario where a sheer number of visitors try to pack up within the most
historical places of the city. In the year 2012, it has been revealed that one of the most popular
destinations which are Florence has been highly packed (Sormaz et al. 2016, p. 732). The high
seasons are also considered to be the major problems due to such mass appearance of the visitors
within a certain time of the year. The locals and the tourists make a huge crowd that makes the
tourist destination to be quite overcrowded that also impacts on people those who are living in
Florence.
As opined by Del and Abbate (2016, p. 1373), tourism in Italy has also brought various crime
scenarios that have not only impacted on the locals; it has also affected the visitors. The rises of
the pickpockets are observed in the high season of tourism and other kinds of criminals are also
attracted to the visitors of Italy. A recent study has revealed that the highly visited areas of the
country are seen to be massively impacted. Although compared to the local crime, it is quite low
and the major reasons have been found for the local purpose of that is around 530 murders in the
year 2012 (Cucculelli, M. and Goffi, 2016, p. 372).
Along with the rising crime rate in Italy, the loss of the original and authentic culture of Italy has
been also diminished due to the presence of tourism in the country. Rome being a very famous
city within the country has a record of around 10 million visitors on a yearly basis. As opined by
Isik et al (2018, p. 272), the city has been observed to be going under a rapid transformation due
to the presence of tourism. For such reasons, there are various types of food chain hotels and
specially designed mall are created at the sites of the country. The fast food center and the
shopping centers are observed to block out the historic sights of the city. As a consequence, the
city's historic and cultural sites are overshadowed by such malls and hotel chains. The culture
and heritage are highly diminished. The loss of local brands is also observed due to the entrance
of overseas brands in the country.
The environmental effect of tourism is also seen in such a scenario as it has also impacted on the
current condition of the country. The impact of mass tourism has been found to cause an
environmental crisis because of the fragile ecosystem of different canals within a natural lagoon
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of Venice. The presence of Cruise ships, heavy traffic in the air and the tour buses are considered
to create major pollution in the environmental foundation of the country. The freshwater
ecosystem has lost its balance as the population of the city gets twice in the heavy season of
tourism where many visitors come to see and visit various parts of the country. This wastage
system and other process are disrupted due to such rise of the population (Antonakakis et al.
2015, p. 145). It damages the lagoon system that happens due to the propellers of the ships and
cruisers. It creates the lagoon to be saltier those impacts on the current ecosystem of the country.
In order to satisfy the visitors, there are various new brands and outlets which are opened for
making higher retention of the visitors of the country. Stores like Starbucks and McDonald are
seen to be expanded in various parts of the country so that the overseas visitors can feel familiar
with the food culture of Italy. It has not only led the country to lose its heritage, but it has also
managed to individuality. Therefore, the city has become more of an international and globalised
part. This also created congestion in the public transportation facility where most of the local
people face for the traffic jam.
Moreover, the local businesses are highly taken over by the intervention of foreign companies.
The Italian government has been observed to consider the involvement of foreign business in
order to maximise the economic stability of the country. However, this process has not only
impacted on the Italian business, but it has also brought a negative impact on the Italian language
(Santeramo et al. 2017, p. 73). The individuality of the language is lost as the foreign languages
have started influencing the citizens of the country. The current situation within the tourism
sector of Italy has been noticed to gain a constant rise since the year 2012 as the revenue is
increasing on a yearly basis (Refer to appendix 2).
Conclusion
The concerned study has managed to showcase that tourism plays a major role to bring business
growth in Italy. However, the growing number of tourism companies has also brought major
disruption in maintains the country’s culture and heritage. The cola businesses have been
observed to be suffered due to the large extension of the foreign companies that takes place for
satisfying the tourists. The environment has been also found to be impacted as the ecological
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system is distorted. Heavy traffic congestion and overcrowding in most visited tourist places are
also amongst major problems that the country has faced.
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Reference List
Books
Roca, Z. ed., 2016. Second home tourism in Europe: lifestyle issues and policy responses.
Routledge.
Journals
Antonakakis, N., Dragouni, M. and Filis, G., 2015. How strong is the linkage between tourism
and economic growth in Europe?. Economic Modelling, 44, pp.142-155.
Cucculelli, M. and Goffi, G., 2016. Does sustainability enhance tourism destination
competitiveness? Evidence from Italian Destinations of Excellence. Journal of Cleaner
Production, 111, pp.370-382.
Del Chiappa, G. and Abbate, T., 2016. Island cruise tourism development: a resident's
perspective in the context of Italy. Current Issues in Tourism, 19(13), pp.1372-1385.
Garau, C., 2015. Perspectives on cultural and sustainable rural tourism in a smart region: The
case study of Marmilla in Sardinia (Italy). Sustainability, 7(6), pp.6412-6434.
Isik, C., Dogru, T. and Turk, E.S., 2018. A nexus of linear and non‐linear relationships between
tourism demand, renewable energy consumption, and economic growth: Theory and
evidence. International Journal of Tourism Research, 20(1), pp.38-49.
Santeramo, F.G., Seccia, A. and Nardone, G., 2017. The synergies of the Italian wine and
tourism sectors. Wine Economics and Policy, 6(1), pp.71-74.
Sormaz, U., Akmese, H., Gunes, E. and Aras, S., 2016. Gastronomy in tourism. Procedia
Economics and Finance, 39, pp.725-730.
Wright, D. and Sharpley, R., 2018. Local community perceptions of disaster tourism: the case of
L'Aquila, Italy. Current Issues in Tourism, 21(14), pp.1569-1585.
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Appendices
Appendix 1:
Tourist arrival report of 2017
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Appendix 2
Revenue growth of Italian tourism sector
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