WSJ article on Venice decline

Here is another accessible edition of that same article
https://www.independentrecorder.com/venices-natives-vanish-and-life-drains-from-a-market-204779.html

Visiting the market early in the morning was probably my most memorable and authentic experience in Venice.

Did you buy any fish?

No, no fish. Just coffee and a pastry. But I take your point of being part of the problem, per my last sentence. Its the van Leeuwenhoek principle in macro - the act of observing something changes it.

Disney Land-Venice. =[ but then, we are tourists too. Maybe they were saying the same thing back in the 1700's

I think mass tourism is amore recent phenomenon than the 1700s when only rich noblemen could afford to travel.

Thanks for posting that link to the same WSJ article Jazz+Travels. This quote says it all re the changes: "Only six fish stalls now survive at the Rialto market, from 18 around 15 years ago."

I plead guilty to going to the fish market from my nearby hotel, twice, early in the morning, and taking pictures instead of buying fish. And the larger point about tourists replacing residents, which applies in many beautiful historic cities, applies even more in Venice.

But how many restaurants are open, employing local people, because of the tourist traffic? And where do they get the fish they serve? And the gentleman who had to move to Mestre still comes back every day to run his gold shop on the Rialto Bridge -- guess who his customers are.

Mass tourism (not to be compared I think with the 18th century) and gentrification are both affecting beautiful historic cities across the world, and are not unrelated. Who can afford to live in Manhattan any more, or central Paris or London? Or Seattle for that matter?

It doesn't help that Venice allows cruise ships into the Giudecca Canal so passengers can sail right past San Marco, instead of keeping them south of Giudecca on their way to and from the terminal.

Thanks for this thoughtful and thought-provoking thread.

But how many restaurants are open, employing local people, because of
the tourist traffic? And where do they get the fish they serve? And
the gentleman who had to move to Mestre still comes back every day to
run his gold shop on the Rialto Bridge -- guess who his customers are.

That would be my thought as well. But If we looked at our own country? How has the retail/service industry changed in the last couple of decades? First there was grumbling over Walmarts shutting out small businesses, and that has evolved to Amazon shutting up even more. Things change and not just in Venice.

We also have Americans who can't afford to live in towns/cities which have become resort/tourist centers. Google up the issues for people in the hospitality, education, medical-support and other fields who are fleeing attractive places which have become unaffordable due to an influx of tourism or wealthy, temporary residents. Sedona is just one example:

http://www.redrocknews.com/news/68510-sedona-s-housing-shortage-is-growing-crisis

As with Venice, "People are realizing that they can rent their house short-term and get $3,000 and rent it for weekends only versus renting it long-term for $1,000 a month.” We talked to a waitress in Sedona at least 17 years ago who said many in her industry lived elsewhere - and drove some distances - as local housing prices were simply unaffordable.