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Venice tourist statisticsThe City of Venice's "Yearbook of Tourism" is packed with interesting data, and the month-by-month numbers can help you avoid peak-season visitor crowds.
ABOVE: Venice's historic center can feel crowded during peak travel periods, but the actual number of tourists is about one-fifth of what you may have read in the news media.
Tourism statistics may sound like a dry (and esoteric) topic, but the numbers can be illuminating--and sometimes they can even be useful in planning your trip. For example, if you hate crowds, tourism statistics can help you find the months when visitor mobs are at a minimum. And if you're wondering how much to budget, knowing what other travelers are spending can make it easier to gauge what a visit will cost. In this article, we'll share a sampling of official numbers from the City of Venice's Yearbook of Tourism report. (The statistics are from 2019, the most recent "normal" year before the pandemic put a damper on international tourism. You can download the report via a link at the end of this article.) How many visitors come to Venice:International news media often publish unsourced guesstimates of tourism in Venice, with over-the-top numbers ranging from 20 to 100 million tourists per year. The Venice Tourism Department's officially recorded numbers are considerably smaller:
ABOVE: In Venice, any visitor can be a princess. Where they come from:International travelers exceed domestic tourists by a significant margin: 4,776,239 foreigners compared to 747,044 Italians. The top 10 countries of origin are:
Altogether, foreigners represent 86.5% of tourist arrivals, compared to 13.5% for Italians.
ABOVE: December is a wonderful month to visit Venice. Crowds are about half of what they are in summer, and decorations (such as these on the Rialto Bridge) add to the holiday atmosphere. When they visit:As you might guess, Venice is much quieter from December through February than in the warmer months, making winter in Venice delightful if you don't mind a bit of chill and want to avoid the crowds. Here's a month-by-month breakdown of tourist nights or "occupancies."
It's worth noting that the busiest and least busy months for international visitors are August and January, while the busiest and least busy months for Italian tourists are April and January. Closer examination of the official data shows that overnight stays by foreigners build steadily from spring until late summer (dropping off gradually in September and October). In contrast, Italian tourist occupancies peak in April, fall sharply in May, and don't pick up again until Italy's traditional summer vacation month of August.
ABOVE: Yachts aren't mentioned in the city's official tourism statistics, but you'll often see vessels like this one moored on the Venetian waterfront. How they arrive:Determining how visitors arrive is tricky, because some numbers (such as automobile arrivals) are hard to count and other numbers (such as airport traffic) include tourists, business travelers, and residents of Northeastern Italy who may be traveling elsewhere in the region. Also, transportation statistics represent passenger movements--i.e., arrivals and departures--not just arrivals. By air: 14,816,325. Of these passengers, 11,561,594 used Venice Marco Polo Airport in 2019, while 3,254,731 passed through Treviso Airport (which is served mostly by the low-cost carriers Ryanair and Wizz Air). By ship: In 2019, passenger traffic through the Port of Venice totaled 1,822,703, which breaks down as follows: Ocean cruises (1,611,341 passenger movements), river cruises (15,796), international ferries (101,708), and hydrofoils (93,858). By train, bus, or car: Venice's Tourism Department doesn't publish comprehensive numbers for rail and road arrivals, but an appendix to the official statistics includes these figures from a VeneziaUnica online survey of Venice tourists in 2017*: Modes of transportation (all modes)
* VeneziaUnica also did a survey in 2020, but we're using the 2017 numbers because the pandemic and restrictions on international travel made 2020 an atypical year.
ABOVE: If you enjoy views of boat traffic and palazzi, join the lucky visitors who stay in hotels on the Grand Canal. Where (and for how long) visitors stay:
Of the visitors who stayed in the Metropolitan City of Venice during 2019, 3,768,000 chose hotels or B&Bs and 1,756,000 stayed in other accommodations such as vacation apartments, hostels, religious guesthouses, and campgrounds. How much visitors spend:As a traveler, you probably aren't obsessed with what other people spend, but the numbers here may be useful in helping you gauge what to expect. Earlier, we mentioned the VeneziaUnica online survey of visitors in 2017. The figures in this section are derived from that survey. For overnight visitors in 2017, expenditures were as follows:
For day visitors (a.k.a. "daytrippers), expenditures were obviously less. (The Yearbook of Tourism report breaks the numbers down further by international and domestic travelers.)
What travelers think of Venice after visiting:In the 2017 VeneziaUnica survey cited in the Yearbook of Tourism, scores for overall satisfaction were remarkably high. On a scale of 1 to 5 from "very bad" to "excellent", ratings after the visit were as follows:
The "intend to return" figures are also noteworthy:
The bottom line is that, despite peak-season crowds (especially in popular areas such as the Piazza San Marco and the Rialto Bridge), visitors to Venice have an enjoyable experience and would like to visit the city again.
ABOVE: Cheryl Imboden explores the streets and squares of Venice. Our caveats and personal observations:
Downloadable source material:
Yearbook of Tourism 2019 (Città di Venezia) |
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