The objective of the study was to measure how much the mobility of these different types of people is influenced by the presence in the city of cultural events classified by researchers as “mainstream” such as the Venice Carnival, the inauguration of the Biennale, the Film Festival, or more linked to the identity of the city such as the Redentore, the Festa della Sensa, the patronal festivals.
Other factors being equal that can influence the presence of people in the city (weekends, tourist and work seasonality), a “mainstream” cultural event attracts a greater number of tourists to the city: around 11 thousand more visitors, of which around 8,500 excursionists . On the other hand, it has two opposing effects on the mobility of residents. On the one hand, it “retains” around 2000 residents in the city for reasons that can be both work-related and of specific interest towards the event. On the other hand, the pressure exerted by the increase in the number of tourists linked to the cultural event leads around 400 residents to temporarily leave the city.
Some major events attract a Venice so many tourists that hundreds of Venetians were forced to temporarily leave the city to avoid inconvenience. This dynamic, known to residents, now emerges and is measured by a scientific study on the presence of people in the historic city of Venice based on the movements of sim. cards of mobile phones throughout 2022.
Symptoms of overtourism
The study, published in the academic journal Tourism Economics by economists ofCa’ Foscari University Venice and theUniversity of Udineis the first scientific research to measure the impact of cultural events on attendance and movements in the historic center of Venice.
In the study, researchers use telephone data to distinguish between regular residents, overnight visitors and day trippers. The numbers show the presence of 98 thousand visitors per day on average (32,339 tourists and 61,461 excursionists), already a sign of overtourism. The maximum peak occurred on Sunday 30 October, on the occasion of the All Saints bank holiday: that day 143,246 visitors were in Venice, of which 54,253 tourists and 88,993 excursionists.
These data are not comparable with official statistics because they are based on the behavior of people regardless of their registry office, guests of friends or relatives, or the regularity of renting.
The objective of the study was to measure how much the mobility of these different types of people is influenced by the presence in the city of cultural events classified by researchers as “mainstream” such as the Venice Carnival, the inauguration of the Biennialthe Film Festivalor more linked to the identity of the city like the Redeemerthe Sensa Festivalthe patronal festivals.
Who must stay, who flees
Other factors being equal that can influence the presence of people in the city (weekends, tourist and work seasonality), a “mainstream” cultural event attracts a greater number of tourists to the city: around 11 thousand more visitors, of which around 8,500 excursionists . On the other hand, it has two opposing effects on the mobility of residents. On the one hand, it “retains” around 2000 residents in the city for reasons that can be both work-related and of specific interest towards the event. On the other hand, the pressure exerted by the increase in the number of tourists linked to the cultural event leads around 400 residents to temporarily leave the city.
However, the published article gives the weekends of as a limiting example Carnival of 2022. In the final weekend, the highlight, compared to the other weekends in the month of February, the residents (understood as people who, according to telephone data, live in Venice for most of the year) decreased by 7.3%, from almost 63 thousand to 58 thousand, while Italian tourists tripled from 4,726 to 14,591 and foreign tourists grew by 81% (from 13 thousand to 24 thousand). Excursionists increased by 35%: Italians went from 30 thousand to 40 thousand (Saturday 26 February saw the annual peak of Italians spending the day in Venice) and foreigners from 15 thousand to 20 thousand.
The events linked to urban identity are most popular
The opening of the Biennial coincides with other records. On Thursday 21 April there were 140,395 visitors to the city including 47,010 tourists and 93,385 excursionists (2022 record). Friday 22 April is similar: 139,998 visitors of which 48,849 tourists and 91,149 excursionists.
Opposite results occur on days when there are cultural events that are important for the self-expression of local identity, and therefore more deeply felt by citizens. While these events are not significant in attracting a greater number of visitors, they do contribute to approximately 1,500 more residents staying in the city (all other variables that influence their mobility being equal), confirming the importance attributed by the citizens at these local events.
“The analysis of telephony big data confirms that there is a temporary migration of Venetians linked to the overcrowding of their city – explains Andrea Baldinresearcher in Economics of art and culture at Ca’ Foscari and co-author of the study with Nicola Camatti (Ca’ Foscari) and Dario Bertocchi (University of Udine) – furthermore, the study shows us with a certain precision which days cause the most negative consequences for residents. The application of this method to city policies could support, for example, the adoption of dynamic disincentives based on forecasts: based on the day and the expected events, targeted dissuasive actions could be identified to avoid overcrowding”.
The study was based on data collected from telephone masts Vodafone. The company has also developed and made available to the scientific community a model to be able to accurately identify the presence and origin of all the SIM cards in a location starting from the data of the individual operator.
