Venice is widely known for the crushing crowds of tourists. The seasonal events that take place on this historical city, such as the Venice Architecture Biennale or the Venice Carnival, have placed it to one of the most sought-after destinations. However, its tourism industry has significantly suffered over the past 3 months. The exceptionally high tides, which further resulted in the flooding in November, led to mass reservation cancellations dropping significantly the anticipated average daily rate as well as the occupancy rate on the hotels.

Despite the fact that Venice managed to recover from the catastrophic flooding, Italy is now facing the largest outbreak of coronavirus outside of Asia. As one would expect, the fears over health issues have left Venice deserted and tourists have abandoned the once overcrowded streets and canals. It is also worth mentioning, that Venice is not the only city in Italy, which has experienced difficulties on its tourism industry. Milan, Rome, Sienna and Florence are experiencing a similar outcome over fears of the coronavirus.

The Carnival period in Venice marks the start of the most busy and popular season in one of the world's most-visited cities. Tourists piling onto waterbuses to cruise the Grand Canal but also strolling through cobblestone streets of the city. Officials had hoped tourism will resume to normal levels as soon as the waters receded and indeed hotels were at 95% capacity on the last weekend of Carnival celebrations last month. However, another detrimental reality would come to test the city. The first Italian fatality due to the Coronavirus outbreak happened in the Veneto region and some of the first positive cases in Venice's historic centre.

The regional president, in an attempt to maintain the virus spread, closed Venice's decadent Carnival celebrations with two days to go. That is the first time in 50 years that the carnival will not commence, fuelling fears of another 'economic' virus. Venice one of the world's most popular tourist destinations, attracts more than 1 million visitors from China alone in one calendar year, but the combined impact of flooding and disease has left it reeling. Only residents and intrepid tourists wearing a surgical mask instead of the carnival ones remained to enjoy the city. Footage shows empty cafes, gondolas lying unused while only a few tourists enjoying their time in the historic St Mark's Square.

Piazza San Marco— Photo by Farazad Group Ltd.Piazza San Marco— Photo by Farazad Group Ltd.
Piazza San Marco— Photo by Farazad Group Ltd.

The Venice Carnival, which usually takes place in February, has been shut down leading to a significant amount of flights being cancelled and the tourists straying away from the city. According to an association of local hotel owners ''Associazione Veneziana Albergatori'', Venice has experienced a 50 percent cancellation of reservations over the past week. According to Mr. Bonacini, the historical city of Italy has suffered a loss of approximately 800 million euro to its tourism industry. Recent statistics show that since February the 21st, the Venetian hotels have lost approximately 70 percent of their international guests leading to negative results for their profit margins. Additionally, one of the most important consequences of these sad events is that the tourism problem in Venice has led UNESCO to consider adding the city to its list of endangered heritage sites, which would be proven catastrophic for the tourism industry.

As a consequence of the precautionary measures for the coronavirus, the Venice Architecture Bienalle revealed that it is forced to postpone its upcoming exhibition. The expected opening date is now set on the 29 August but the closing date has remained unchanged, 29th November. Consequently, the time period for which the exhibition will run is cut in half and the amount of tourists that will visit the city has been further pushed down. The steady stream of visitors to Venice due to the carnival or the art and film festival have been taken away this year and according to Mr. Claudio Scarpa who is the head of Venice's hotel association, the estimated loss revenue has already peaked to 1 billion euros. Moreover, it has been estimated that the virus-related losses would approximate 7.4 billion euros between March 1st and May 31st. In fact, Judith Boulbain, Venice hotelier, has only the 9/11 attacks period to compare with. Venice hotels, during the most popular period of the year are recording more than 80% of cancelled reservations, which are combined with limited demand for future bookings.

To sum up, Venice's tourism has suffered a lot from either the flood or the virus, which have hit the city. The cancellation of the carnival and the postponement of the Bienalle have driven down the amount of tourists visiting the city. Venice's tourism industry has experienced extensive losses and it will take a significant amount of time to recover. The hotels' daily rates as well as the occupancy rates have dropped during a peak period for the city and have led to negative returns and minimised profit margins.

Korosh Farazad
Founder and Chairman of Farazad Group of Companies
Farazad Group Ltd.