Evaluating tourist flows in historic cities: the case of Venice

Venice is one of the world's great tourist-historic urban attractions, but this has produced a number of well-documented threats to both its physical and cultural environments, as well as conflicts with the needs of its residents and commuters. This has led to demands that tourist inflows should be limited. Against this background, the authors argue that, in practice, Venice's tourist demand is both varied and complex. This is illustrated by their analysis of a ninefold classification of tourists, which highlights important differences in spatial behaviour, perceptiveness, receptiveness and spending power. On this basis, they propose that some categories of tourists shuld be actively encouraged. Finally, they conclude by emphasizing the key role of the water transport system, and the need to plan for effective separation of the access, circulation and exit of the tourist and the resident/commuting populations. -Authors