Is It Finally Time to Stop Visiting Venice?

Experts guide tourists on best practices for ethical tourism in the UNESCO World Heritage Site.

Forget the tidal waters that lap at Medieval facades: the true threat to Venice comes from hordes of trash-littering tourists and wheelie bag-rolling vandals. Considering the environmental impact of over-tourism on the city, a solid case could be made for discouraging future tourists from visiting la Serenissima. The only rub? The fortunes of Venice are entirely dependent on tourism money to stay, well…afloat.

But is it ethical to visit?

In interviews with Fodor’s, three noted experts on the city’s conservation, history, and culture agreed unanimously: Book your visit to Venice! But please approach the fragile city with care.

Making Plans

Melissa Conn, director of the Venice office of the American non-profit Save Venice Inc., suggests that careful pre-planning is the best first step in organizing your eco-friendly vacation. Before you arrive, “Study travel and museum sites and plan a detailed itinerary in advance. This is an extremely walkable city, and with careful planning, you may not even need to rely on public or private transportation at all, except to and from the airport.”

Conn, who lives in the city year-round, encourages travelers to pack light and “plan your visit in off-season times such as November through March” to avoid as much crowding and chaos as possible. Pay attention to which luggage you bring, too: suitcases with wheels are capable of damaging the city’s labyrinthine lanes and often cause tremendous bottlenecks for pedestrians.

Stay Awhile

The duration of your stay is equally important, according to Jane da Mosto, environmental scientist and executive director of We Are Here Venice, an NGO that focuses on the impact climate change has on the lagoon. It may seem counterintuitive, but da Mosto insists: “The longer the visit, the greater the possibility of having a lower environmental impact on Venice. Slow travel is the best way to appreciate Venetian culture. It is also harmful to dedicate only a day or a few hours to visiting Venice. We call this type of tourism ‘bite and run.’”

Accommodation type matters, too, according to Conn. She strongly urges travelers to “stay in a hotel instead of a short-term rental. Those are raising the cost of housing and rent for local Venetians and the university student population.” Another less obvious advantage of a hotel stay? It ensures all traveler’s garbage is processed properly and in accordance with the city’s necessarily strict recycling provisions. This is a massive job: every year, more than 70,000 tons of garbage must be hauled by boat from the island city to the mainland.

To cut down on single-use plastics as you navigate the city, experts agree you should bring a reusable metal bottle for your sojourn. Da Mosto points out that “buying water in disposable plastic bottles that then overflow from the municipal rubbish bins and get kicked or blown into the canals from where they float into the open lagoon is a sad sight. There are drinking fountains in Venice, and the quality of tap water is excellent. It’s also worth taking time to sit at a cafe to enjoy your coffee from a proper cup rather than get takeaway in a disposable one–and those plastic lids end up polluting the waters just like plastic bottles!”

Venture Beyond Venice

Avoiding throngs should be another goal. Thomas F. Madden, professor of history at Saint Louis University and author of Venice: A New History, strongly suggests visitors avoid the more cliche sites in favor of lesser-known treasures. “Beauty and history are everywhere in Venice, in every nook and cranny, but especially far from the madding crowds,” Madden explains. Instead of visiting the “Instagram-famous” islands of Murano or Burano, for example, the director of SLU’s Center for Medieval and Renaissance Studies recommends travelers focus on lesser-known gems like the islands of Torcello and Malamocco. While Torcello doesn’t boast as many of the photo-worthy rainbow houses of Burano, the glittering gold Byzantine mosaics on display in Santa Maria Assunta are thought to rival those on view inside the perpetually packed Basilica of San Marco.

Da Mosto echoes this advice, advising visitors to venture further afield than Piazza San Marco to purchase keepsakes for home. The past decade has seen an influx of cheap stores that cater exclusively to day-trippers. Da Mosto counsels purchasing from local artisans invested in the city’s future instead of the gaudy chain stores owned by absentee landlords. Visitors will enjoy higher quality, longer-lasting Venetian goods “compared to spending the same money on generic rubbish from the many shops that stock mass-produced low-quality clothes or trinkets purely for tourists.”

While da Mosto insists that “the biggest mistake is to come anywhere near Venice on a large cruise ship,” she encourages visitors to enjoy a far less controversial boat ride :  a gondola. Or even better? Take a few lessons yourself in Venetian rowing. She recommends classes at either Row Venice or Venice Onboard, both of which are locally owned and operated.

Spend Wisely

Lastly, travelers can counterbalance the ecological impact of their visit by making a donation to a local NGO or non-profit. Da Mosto encourages donations to We Are Here Venice, which will help “support our work effectively restoring the salt marsh habitat in the Venetian Lagoon that protects Venice. This is of enormous significance in terms of biodiversity and also helps mitigate climate change.”

Similarly, Conn encourages lagoon lovers to visit the Save Venice website to learn more about their current art and architectural restoration projects around the city. Memberships provide free admission to specific museums and cultural sites around town as well as access to lectures both in person or via Zoom. Stateside, there are many active Save Venice chapters where art lovers can find more ways to help from afar.

Travelers who treat the city with the care and reverence she deserves are sure to be rewarded by the welcoming nature of the true Venetian citizen.