A New Era for Urban Tourism? The Case of Venice, Italy

Abstract

In the last decades a number of studies have dealt with the negative impacts of tourism, still, there is a lack of research that explains why these impacts have emerged. The present article addresses this research gap, and after the identification of the different impacts, attempts to explore the reasons for their emergence through the case of Venice. Given that certain tourism impacts have been the focus of recent protests of Venetian residents, the article also tries to explore the connections between tourism-related issues and social movements that is, the reasons behind these demonstrations. The study is based on qualitative interviews with opinion leaders from local (Venetian), regional (Veneto Region) and international (European Union) levels.