ROME (AFP) – Fears of more unprecedented flooding in Venice has brought hotel reservations down by 45 per cent, the city’s hoteliers association said on Friday (Dec 20).

Last month, the northern Italian city of canals was hit by the highest tide in more than 50 years, with tourists wading through flooded streets to seek shelter as a fierce wind whipped up waves in St Mark’s Square.

The exceptionally intense “acqua alta”, or high waters, peaked at 1.87m on Nov 12, according to the tide monitoring centre.

“Since mid-November, following a historic flood, we have seen an unprecedented drop (in the number) of bookings. This did not even happen after the attacks on the Twin Towers,” said Vittorio Bonacini, chief of the Association of Venetian Hoteliers during a press conference.

“We recorded a peak of 45 per cent cancellations (in the last 30 days) and had to cancel events, conferences and major initiatives planned for next year,” he added.

Bonacini said people’s understanding of the situation on the ground was far from reality.

“We have received worried calls from the United States, asking us if a child one and a half meters tall (five feet) could visit without being in danger.”

But he said Venice is more than a meter above sea level and that when people speak of a 1.3m high tide, the reality is the water level is only 30cm and only in some parts of the old city.

He also said the historic high tide lasted only an hour and a half, before the situation normalised within in a few hours.

According to the association, more than 31 million tourists visited Venice last year – but 20 million spent only one day there and only 11.5 million stayed in the 274 hotels in the historic centre.

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