The “ban the cruise ships from Venice” bandwagon has raced out of control with Politicians now eager to make names for themselves in “saving” the world famous city of canals from modern day cruise vessels. The government has run with the gauntlet and, as of November 2014, ships of more than 96,000 gross tons will be banned from the Giudecca Canal and Venice Lagoon.

Protests by Venice residents and environmentalists concerned about the damage caused by increasing cruise ship traffic to the fragile city, one of the world’s most popular tourist destinations, have been on the rise in recent years. Italian Prime Minister Enrico Letta met the transport and culture ministers as well as the governor of the Veneto region and the mayor of Venice, and approved plans to limit or shut down cruise ship traffic in parts of the Venice lagoon and near the city’s famous Saint Mark’s Square.

Hysteria caused by the Costa Concordia tragedy, an event not caused by the ship herself, kicked this anti-cruise ship campaign in to top gear as the protestors do not want a repeat of that in Venice, albeit somewhat unlikely. So, large cruise ships will be banned from the canal between the mainland and Giudecca Island in the lagoon while a new access channel is developed with the main shipping terminal.

From January 2014, cruise ship traffic in front of the Piazza San Marco in the heart of the city, will be limited, with the number of cruise ships of more than 40,000 gross tons authorised to cross the Giudecca canal cut by 20% from 2012 levels. It will be interesting how these plans will affect the tourist industry and economy of the area and anyone wishing to sail into Venice the traditional way should do so soon.