VENICE — ENIT (the Italian National Tourist Board) has announced a Solidarity Chain for Venice.

“ENIT will be by Venice’s side following the damage caused by bad weather and floods, with a virtual network of its 28 Italian National Tourist offices abroad,” says a statement from ENIT.

The tourism board adds that it has alerted all foreign ENIT branch offices asking for maximum updated coverage for the city of Venice through all its social media accounts.

‘Venice in the heart’ is the name of the campaign that has been launched by the municipal council of Venice to make the city shine once again. The city has already begun to rebuild, restore and fix the damage from this season’s unprecedented flooding, but there is still much that needs to be done, says ENIT.

The council has opened a bank account for donations from Italy and abroad (see https://www.comune.venezia.it/it/content/donazioni-emergenza-acqua-alta).

The safeguard of Venetian tourism is fundamental for the Italian economy, says ENIT. International visitors to Venice, representing 86% of the total, were up 3.5% compared to 2017, while the domestic market, which totals 14%, increased by 4.8%, taking total visitor growth to +3.7%.

In the first seven months of 2019, Venice saw growth compared to the same period in 2018 (+6,5% between January and July 2018). In 2018 international visitors in the Venice municipality increased by +13.5% compared to the previous year. And foreign expenditure, i.e. visitor spend, was close to three million euros with an increase of +5.8% compared to 2017.

“Venice is safe,” says the President of ENIT Italian National Tourist, Board Giorgio Palmucci. He urges the trade not to give up on bookings as visitors “aren’t in any danger,” and he reiterates that Venice needs travellers now more than ever.