This is Venice's problem, but unfortunately also its livelihood.

In the 1400s Venice was a major maritime and trading power. Of course, that power ebbed over the centuries and it became a relic of one-time greatness.

The era of mass tourism brought new opportunities. There are very few people who have not heard of Venice, and a very large proportion of those will have Venice as a bucket list item. Unfortunately, the city is sinking. It is also under extreme population pressure as one-time homes are replaced by hotels and AirBnB to cash in on the tourism. Whether the sheer quantity of tourists has anything to do with the buildings starting to sink is an open question. Whether they have anything to do with the locals having to move out of Venice is a little more clear.

You don't need to look very far in a Web search to find stories, and plenty of them when you search "Venice" and "over tourism".

The mayor has planned to impose a tax on day trippers, but while that may be a decent source of revenue I seriously doubt that will dissuade people from going there. If you can afford to travel to Venice, you can afford a few Euros to get into it.

These vessels are a very real part of the problem. But of course they also provide the economic underpinnings of the entire region these days. The ship on my right, the MSC Magnifica, carries between 2 1/2 and 3 1/2 thousand people not counting crew. Here we can see 4 ships. We had already seen another one just a couple of shots back. And there are more hidden away down the back. That's an entire regional city's worth of people descending upon one city every single day during cruise season. That is a massive strain on infrastructure and resources. But of course if they were to cease coming immediately, the city would probably be bankrupt within months.

The solution?

I have no idea. But I hope the civic leaders of Venice can figure one out that actually works.