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Viñales, Cuba (CNN) — In the foothills of the Sierra de los Órganos Mountains, more than two hours west of Havana, a trickle of riders on horseback descends a reddish-brown mountain in a serpentine line. They smile as they pass a group of hikers and continue on their ride. Known as the garden of Cuba, the Viñales Valley was designated a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 1999 both for its natural beauty and use of traditional agricultural methods, says Gabriel Vasquez, a regional specialist with Patrimonio Mundial, which oversees the Caribbean’s UNESCO World Heritage Sites, including the nine in Cuba.Vasquez points out mogotes (tall, rounded hills that rise dramatically to almost 1,000 feet) and various tree species such as the Cuban mountain palm and roble caimán — with its ridged bark resembling a crocodile’s skin — as he shepherds his crew of tourists into a drying barn, where bunches of tobacco leaves hang in rows from overhead beams.What’s unusual about this particular group of 18 tourists, at least these days, is that they’re American. US travel to Cuba has dropped dramaticallySince US President Donald Trump signed the latest round of restrictions on US travel to Cuba, which eliminated “people to people” educational tours for Americans and cruise ship operations from the US to Cuba in June, tourist arrivals to the Caribbean island have plunged nearly 21%, Cuban government data shows. In 2019, nearly 500,000 people traveled from the US to Cuba, compared to more than 638,000 in 2018. The current decline reverses a boom in arrivals following the US-Cuba agreement under former US President Barack Obama. “It became very evident in June when Trump made these changes that it was not going to be business as usual,” says Peggy Goldman, president and co-owner of Jenkintown, Pennsylvania-based Friendly Planet Travel. Goldman said Friendly Planet’s US-to-Cuba numbers, echoing industry-wide trends, are down by 20%. “The impression that people had — even travel agents who understand the industry — is that travel to Cuba from the US is no longer legal. We had to explain and educate people on travel to Cuba all over again.” “But all is not lost,” adds Goldman. “We still get reservations every day.”Some US-Cuba trips are still possibleThe Viñales Valley is a UNESCO World Heritage Site. Courtesy Friendly Planet TravelThe itinerary, arranged by Friendly Planet, falls under the category “Support for the Cuban People,” one of 12 legal categories of travel to Cuba by US citizens. The other legal categories include family visits from Cuban Americans, professional research, journalism, religious activities and athletic competitions.In addition, US travelers must stay in private homes with tourist accommodations and eat at paladars, restaurants run by Cubans in their homes, rather than state-owned establishments. And, they must keep a written record of their activities and expenses on the island (an itinerary and receipts, for example) and retain those records for at least five years.According to OFAC, the tour must also be in conjunction with “recognized human rights organizations; independent organizations designed to promote a rapid, peaceful transition to democracy; or individual and nongovernmental organizations that promote independent activity intended to strengthen civil society in Cuba.” So, as long as you travel with a tour operator that uses private suppliers – since these suppliers are part of “civil society” – and meet the other OFAC requirements outlined here, you can legally travel to Cuba. This is how reputable tour operators such as Friendly Planet, Insight Cuba, Intrepid Travel and a handful of others have routinely sent (and continue to send) tourists to Cuba.Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said in a January 10 statement that Washington’s latest round of restrictions “further impedes the Cuban regime from gaining access to hard currency from U.S. travelers.” The new restrictions, Pompeo said, are meant to prevent charter service from expanding to fill the gaps left by the Trump administration’s October ban on commercial flights to Cuban airports outside Havana.A country frozen in timeVisitors can tour tobacco farms in the province of Pinar del Rio. Courtesy Friendly Planet TravelA post-hike lunch consists of a green salad, fried Malanga and yucca, grilled pork, chicken, tuna and arroz congri (Cuban rice and black beans), all served family style at Finca Agroecológica El Paraiso, a farmhouse with sweeping views of the valley that stretches across the lush Pinar del Río province. In addition to our table of 18 Americans, the farmhouse hosts Dutch and British diners traveling independently, and another small table of Americans enjoying café con leche with flan. Under the new regulations, a legal tour can operate with as few as one participant.Claudia Miranda, a 39-year old graphic designer from Washington D.C. and one of the participants on the tour, was mistakenly told by friends last summer that she wouldn’t be allowed to legally travel to Cuba. Miranda says she’s glad she did her research and booked the tour. “It’s a beautiful country,” says Miranda. “I appreciate that it has stayed the way it is … without being influenced by other countries. People need to see it.” After lunch, a boat ride in the Indio Cave feels like a scene from the “Raiders of the Lost Ark” movie, minus the sound of schoolboys squealing. This gigantic cave on the road to San Vicente is named for the aboriginal Guanahatabey, hunter-gatherers who lived in Western Cuba until the 16th century. It’s part of the same cave system as Cueva de los Portales, just 25 miles east, where revolutionary Che Guevara hid out during the 1962 Cuban Missile Crisis. A Cuban “gondolier” steers passengers through a dimly lit underground river, with limestone stalactites dripping from the grotto overhead. The next morning, at the Hector Luis Prieto Tobacco Farm about an hour north in San Juan y Martínez, stray dogs scamper about the tour group as guide Osvaldo Diaz blows rings with his cigar smoke. This 15-acre tobacco plantation gives multilingual tours to visitors in addition to housing up to four guests in an Airbnb cabin on the property. (Yes, it’s a real Airbnb.)Tobacco farming is one of the few industries in Cuba that is considered private. Farmers own the land, but they must sell 90% of the leaf they grow to the government — at a price set by the government — for the Cuban cigar industry. The rest they can sell or use as they wish.Trump sanctions hit Cuban businesses hardFaced with US sanctions, farmers have switched from using diesel to oxen and plows to tend their crops.Courtesy Friendly Planet TravelDiaz says Trump’s regulations have affected business, a concern which resonates with guides across the country.”We had a partnership with a local dive operator that brought cruise ship passengers here,” he says. “We used to get at least 100 visitors a week from the US. Now we might get two small groups in a month.” The owner of the farm, Prieto himself, arrives and joins the conversation. Prieto says that the farm originally belonged to his grandfather who immigrated to Cuba from the Canary Islands over 100 years ago. “It’s a shame that it’s so much harder to come to Cuba now,” Prieto says. Of Trump’s sanctions, he says, “On the production side, it hurts. A lot.” In addition to the travel regulations imposed in June 2019, the Trump administration sanctioned ships bringing oil from socialist ally Venezuela to Cuba in an attempt to pressure Cuba and force Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro out. This move has prompted farms like Hector Luis Prieto, which once used diesel to tend their crops, to use oxen and plows and other methods.The pace is quickDance instructors at La Casa Del Son make their salsa, cha-cha and mambo moves look easy.Kristan SchillerDuring the tour’s couple days in Havana, the pace of life moves much quicker — and the tour group can only try to keep up. At La Casa Del Son dance studio, dance instructors wearing brightly colored skirts make their salsa, cha-cha and mambo moves look easy before a rapt audience. After their performance, they offer their hands to this mostly senior group of Americans who laugh as they go. One woman continues dancing with the handsome male teacher long after everyone tires. The teacher counts aloud so his student can follow.When the dance lesson is over, the group weaves its way through the city past cafes and private casas to Clandestina in Old Havana, an independent Cuban fashion brand founded by two women in 2015 after then-Cuban President Raul Castro loosened regulations on the private sector.The t-shirts, bags and caps line the shelves while posters cover the white walls of their trendy studio, where they make clothes from recycled materials.Clandestina has become synonymous with the word “cool” both in Cuba and — now with their online shop and pop-up stores throughout the US — abroad.”[Foot] traffic from the US has been less compared with when Obama was president,” says store manager Johnny Rivera. “But our local customer base has grown.” Rivera says that as the brand has grown internationally, young Cubans as well as foreigners regard Clandestina clothing as collectors’ items and keep business steady, especially in summer.A hipster in a fedora enters the shop and buys a few shirts with an entourage trailing him, his vintage car parked smack in front of the store, still running while the Friendly Planet tourists peruse the shelves. A handful of Americans buy gifts for their kids back home before the tour group moves on. Giving back is part of the tourThis Havana park is popular for its views of the castle and lighthouse of El Morro.Courtesy Friendly Planet TravelOn the third day of the tour, the Friendly Planet bus heads to Lawton, one of Havana’s poorest neighborhoods on the outskirts of the city, stationing itself conspicuously alongside Muraleando, an after-school art program for children created inside an old water tank. The space, built in 2010 and covered in vibrant murals and tiles, now houses an art gallery, workshops and a stage space, funded entirely by community members, where volunteer artists give instruction to local kids as well as perform. “Our roof is made from parts of an old ’53 Buick and ’49 Ford,” says Muraleando guide Victor Rodriguez Sanchez, pointing overhead to metal car scrap that has been welded together on the ceiling and resembles a sculpture one might see at MoMA in Manhattan. Sanchez ushers the group into an open-air theater where five musicians perform a series of rumba songs, one after the other. A 20-something crooner cradles a microphone and moves to the beat of the rousing percussion while the American spectators give her a standing ovation.As the group departs, Marilyn Draxl and Hugo Keesing from Columbia, Maryland leave a large bag of art supplies, transported to Cuba in their luggage, for the children at Muraleando. “Our friends think no one can come to Cuba,” says Draxl, who has traveled the world with her husband. Draxl says most of their friends in the US find the Trump administration’s new Cuba travel regulations so confusing that they simply decide not to go. Legal tours have packed itinerariesThe Cathedral of Havana dominates the plaza that bears its name. Courtesy Friendly Planet TravelThe US rules for American travel to Cuba require a “full-time schedule,” stating somewhat nebulously that such a schedule should “not include free time or recreation in excess of that consistent with a full-time schedule.” That makes the Friendly Planet tour, by necessity, a busy one. In addition to an assortment of people-to-people cultural experiences, the tour hits a few literary highlights such as a stop in Cojimar, the fishing village that inspired Ernest Hemingway’s novel “The Old Man and the Sea” and a visit to the Ambos Mundos La Habana Hotel (Havana is spelled with a “b” in Spanish), where “Papa” Hemingway took up residence in room 511 to write. The tour also calls upon the Spanish-style Hotel Nacional de Cuba, once financed by American mobster Meyer Lansky, where the Americans sip mojitos from giant wicker chairs on the hotel’s sea-facing veranda. The last night of the tour, a collection of perfectly polished vintage cars line the narrow street in front of Hostal El Encanto de Perseverancia, Friendly Planet’s approved casa of choice in Central Havana. Gentlemen dressed in khaki pants and pressed white shirts hold their car doors open and help the ladies inside, leaving the men to fend for themselves. Classic American cars are everywhere in Havana.Courtesy Friendly Planet TravelClaudia Miranda asks her driver to turn up the music and Tony Bennett’s “The Best is Yet to Come” roars from the speakers. Tops down, the cars head west on the Malecón as the sun sets over Havana harbor. A farewell repast of garlic shrimp, mandarin chicken and cheesecake accompanied by craft cocktails at Habanera, a 1930-built art deco paladar in Havana’s posh Miramar district, feels like an intimate dinner party for 18.”I wanted to come to Cuba because of the travel restrictions,” says Sara Contreras, a 40-year old real estate agent from Washington, D.C. who speaks fluent Spanish and immigrated to the US from El Salvador with her parents when she was a child. “The fact that it’s forbidden made me want to know more about how Cubans live … And now I do!” “We are so happy to have Americans visit,” adds Monica Munoz, a tour guide with Friendly Planet based in Havana. “It’s a beautiful thing when you can connect with people and keep politics aside.” Kristan Schiller is an award-winning freelance journalist, photographer and guidebook author whose work explores travel, adventure and conservation. A former New Yorker, Schiller now travels the world from her home base in Ohio. Next up: Jordan. Twitter: @KristanSchiller Instagram: KristanSchiller

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London (CNN) — A British Airways (BA) flight has broken the record for the fastest-ever subsonic flight between New York and London, reaching a top speed of more than 800mph (1,287km/h). The Boeing 747 aircraft flew overnight from Saturday to Sunday and reached its destination in four hours and 56 minutes, as Storm Ciara sped towards the United Kingdom. “The flight was riding a much stronger than usual jet stream, with winds over 200 mph propelling the aircraft,” says senior CNN meteorologist Brandon Miller. “The supercharged jet stream is also responsible for powering Storm Ciara, which has brought damaging wind gusts and massive waves to the UK, Ireland and other parts of Northern Europe this weekend. “The jet stream is a fast moving ‘river of air’ high in the atmosphere, around the height that commercial airliners fly. The jet stream is responsible for carrying weather systems around the planet.” The plane landed at Heathrow airport at 4:43 a.m., almost two hours earlier than scheduled. Its top speed during the flight was 825mph (1,327km/h), according to Flightradar24, an online flight-tracking service. The flight-tracking platform estimates that the average time it takes a plane to fly between London and New York is six hours and 13 minutes. Flightradar24 announced the news of the record-breaking flight on its Twitter account, writing: “If we’re not mistaken, BA now retakes the fastest subsonic NY-London crossing from Norwegian.”A British Airways Boeing 747 approaches New York on January 23, 2020. Nicolas Economou/NurPhoto via Getty ImagesThe service added that the British Airways flight was one minute faster than a Virgin Airbus A350 flight, which touched down at Heathrow moments later. It beat another Virgin plane which landed half an hour later by three minutes. All three flights comfortably beat the previous record of five hours and 13 minutes, held by Norwegian since January 2018. Although the BA plane was clocked apparently going faster than the speed of sound — 767 mph — it would not have breached the sonic barrier because it was being pushed by the air around it. Even when traveling at more than 800mph, the 747 was traveling much slower than the speed of sound relative to the air around it.A spokesperson for BA said: “We always prioritise safety over speed records, but our highly trained pilots made the most of the conditions to get customers back to London well ahead of time.”Storm Ciara made landfall in the United Kingdom over the weekend and caused severe travel disruptions elsewhere. Two of Europe’s busiest airports — one in Frankfurt, Germany, the other in Amsterdam, Netherlands — each grounded more than 100 flights due to the storm.A company spokesperson told CNN that BA, like all other airlines operating flights into and out of the UK, was being affected by Storm Ciara — and had canceled some of its flights and merged others. CNN’s Barry Neild contributed to this report

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(CNN) — The United States has begun implementing new rules around travel from China as the coronavirus death toll creeps higher — rules that include re-routing Americans flying into the country to specific airports for screening. So far, more than 420 people have died in China and more than 19,000 have been infected across more than 25 countries. In the US, government officials urged residents not to travel to China, issuing a level 4 travel advisory. The World Health Organization (WHO) declared the outbreak a public health emergency of international concern on January 30. For Americans who traveled there in the past 14 days, the US Department of Homeland Security said there are a total of 11 designated airports — including John F. Kennedy International Airport, Los Angeles International Airport and Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport — where travelers can enter the United States. Those airports, the government said, have more resources to conduct enhanced screening procedures.If passengers are screened and show no symptoms they will be re-booked to their final destination and asked to “self-quarantine” inside their home, DHS says. “Even American media and experts doubted the government’s decision, saying that the US government’s restrictions on China are precisely what the WHO rejects, that the US is turning from overconfidence to fear and overreaction, and that banning the entry of foreigners who traveled to China in the past 14 days is suspected to be violating civil rights instead of reducing risks of virus spreading,” Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Hua Chunying said.What travelers can expectBased on the new restrictions that went into effect Sunday evening, Americans flying into the United States who have been in China’s Hubei Province in the past 14 days may be subject to up to two weeks of mandatory quarantine, Health and Human Services Secretary Alex Azar said in a news conference.US citizens who have been in other parts of mainland China in the past 14 days will undergo screening at the designated airports and up to two weeks of monitored self-quarantine, Azar said. To help expedite that process, DHS acting Secretary Chad Wolf said, Customs and Border Patrol and air carriers will identify passengers who fall under the restrictions before their scheduled flights. “Once back in the U.S., it’s imperative that individuals honor self-quarantine directives to help protect the American public,” Wolf said in a statement. The new rules also mean foreign nationals who were recently in China will be temporarily denied entry into the United States, Azar said. Monday, acting Homeland Security Deputy Secretary Ken Cuccinelli said a Canadian citizen was turned back at the northern border under the new coronavirus travel restrictions. It’s not clear whether anyone else has been turned back as part of the proclamation. “We’re just beginning, today, to see results of implementation,” Cuccinelli said.TSA issued new directivesChinese nationals coming from China and connecting through another foreign airport will be denied travel, according to a person briefed on the new restrictions. Those with pre-clearance are exempt.Frontline employees will also be allowed to wear surgical masks if they choose to do so, TSA administrator David Pekoske said in an email directive sent to employees Saturday.Airlines are suspending travel to ChinaAirlines including Delta Air Lines, British Airways, United Airlines, American Airlines, Air Asia, Cathay Pacific, Air India, IndiGo, Lufthansa and Finnair have announced plans to slash the number of flights they are operating to China or stop flying to the country entirely. Many airlines are offering customers refunds or credits.Delta Air Lines suspended flights Sunday between the United States and China until at least April 30, the airline said in a news release. The suspension went into effect four days earlier than initially planned. American Airlines also suspended flights between the United States and China, effective January 31 through March 28. Travelers with upcoming plans should check with their airlines and look for advisories posted on carriers’ websites.Guidance for American flight crews in ChinaOver the weekend, the CDC and Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) issued guidance for American-based flight and cabin crews who are traveling or have traveled to China recently. That guidance includes minimizing their contact with other airport personnel and limiting their time in public while in China, as well as not using public transportation when getting to hotels and monitoring their temperature.It also directs crews to avoid going into the general population and maintaining a distance of about 6 feet from anyone during their time there. “Avoid crowds, stores, sporting or mass entertainment events, and other situations likely to attract large numbers of people,” the guidance says.CNN’s Dakin Andone, Sherisse Pham, Hanna Ziady and Geneva Sands contributed to this report.

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(CNN) — Framed by abundant woodland, surrounded by icy water and bathed in the glowing winter sun, this new hotel in Swedish Lapland already sounds pretty special.And that’s before you realize its centerpiece is a circular structure adrift on the Lule River, reachable only via wooden walkway and designed to resemble a cluster of logs caught adrift on a Swedish waterway.Welcome to Arctic Bath, a “floating hotel” in the Scandinavian north. In the middle of this floating edifice is a giant ice bath, open to the elements and offering a pretty spectacular spa experience for guests who brave the cold. The rest of the building is comprised of various saunas and bathing experiences.The hotel’s 12 rooms are dotted around the river banks and on the water’s edge, Scandi-chic cabins offering eye catching views of the ever-changing skies and cozy, minimalistic interiors.This new accommodation spot, designed by architects Bertil Harström and Johan Kauppi, suggests a constant dialogue between nature and the man made structure.Unusual designThe centerpiece of Arctic Bath is this circular floating structure.Courtesy Anders BlomqvistDesigns for Arctic Bath premiered back in early 2018, with its striking architecture and watery theme capturing the imagination of travelers across the world.Now the hotel — located about an hour and 15 minutes from Luleå Airport — is open for business, and also offers first-rate culinary offerings at the hotel restaurant.The theme of wellness is pretty high on the list of priorities for Arctic Bath, the food’s got a healthy bent, with locally sourced ingredients, while the emphasis on cold bathing is to aid muscle pain. Guests brave enough to plunge into the pools will be able to enjoy an incredible spa experience.Courtesy Daniel HolmgrenActivities on offer include — unsurprisingly, perhaps — yoga, mindfulness and meditation.There’s also the opportunity to enjoy the great outdoors — think bear watching, horseback riding and courses in wildlife photography.Arctic Bath is located in pretty stunning spot in Swedish Lapland.Courtesy Anders BlomqvistDuring the winter months, the Northern Lights illuminate the skies above.The Arctic Bath team is also keen to bridge the gap between tourists and locals living in the neaby village of Harads, and guests will have the opportunity to learn more about the local Sámi culture by visiting a local resident at her home.The team behind the new hotel also helped bring the nearby, successful Treehotel to life. “I think TreeHotel prepared the world for Arctic Bath as the next project,” said co-architect Bertil Harström of Arctic Bath back in 2018.

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The outbreak has left the free-wheeling, semi-autonomous Chinese territory of Macao shell-shocked. Last year, the city received almost 40 million visitors. Now, streets and squares once teeming with tourists from mainland China are empty. Ambulances roam the city, operated by emergency workers dressed in hazardous materials suits. According to the Macao government, January tourism figures plunged 87% compared to the previous year, even though the busiest holiday of the year — Lunar New Year — fell in that period. Hotels that were nearly at 100% capacity during the 2019 Lunar New Year were left half empty.The health scare has threatened the business model at the heart of Macao’s economy. The unofficial gambling capital of the world depends on millions of visitors from mainland China.But now administrators are trying to ensure that the deadly new coronavirus first discovered last December in the Chinese city of Wuhan does not take root in this tiny former Portuguese colony.In January, police went from hotel to hotel, rounding up hundreds of visitors from Hubei province, where Wuhan is located. Each person was given a choice: either go home or go into quarantine for two weeks.As of February 1, the dragnet had failed to track down more than 100 tourists from the region. “We are still targeting different Hubei tourists,” Chio Song Un, Macao’s police commissioner, said at a press conference on Friday.At that briefing, 11 officials from the city government sat wearing masks, addressing a room full of journalists who had been instructed to also cover their faces. Ao Leong Lu, Macao’s secretary for social affairs and culture, urged residents to avoid gathering in large numbers. Her administration also announced schools would be closed indefinitely.”I never saw this in my life and I’ve been here since 1981,” Albano Martins, an economist who worked in the city’s administration when it was still a Portuguese colony, told CNN. He warned that Macao faces a major threat to its economy: “If this effect still continue for two, three months more, we may have a two-digit contraction.”‘Trust in science’ At Macao’s main public hospital, hospital staff wait at the entrance dressed head-to-toe in plastic protective gear.The coronavirus isolation ward, located on the top floor, has a ventilation system that pumps out and filters air from the patients’ rooms.On Sunday, administrators announced the discovery of the city’s eighth case of coronavirus. They say a 64-year-old woman who never traveled to Hubei province, but did reportedly purchase live poultry from a wet market in China’s southern Guangdong province, was being treated for moderate symptoms the virus.Her husband, as well as a doctor and nurse who had been in contact with her, were all in protective isolation, Vitor Moutinho, a spokesperson with Macao’s Health Bureau, told CNN.Meanwhile, the city government has also urged companies to provide housing for non-resident employees.With a population of 600,000 — microscopic by Chinese city standards — Macao doesn’t only rely on tourists from mainland China, with a sizeable chunk of its workforce also crossing the border every day. City officials say a man and a woman in the neighboring Chinese city of Zhuhai have been diagnosed with coronavirus. Both worked in and around Macao’s casinos.One casino workers’ union is calling for Macao to close its casinos and hotels, echoing similar calls in nearby Hong Kong. That city has already cut border crossings by 80% and instituted new traveler checks.Cloee Chao, president of New Macao Gaming Staff Rights, estimates the number of casino customers has plunged to less than 10% of normal activity — meaning a full closure would not have a significantly worse effect on the economy. “Shutting down the casinos is the best way to protect the staff,” she said.Despite the concern, the government has so far drawn a line against closing Macao’s glittering gambling houses.However, asked whether this could be considered in future, Macao’s Secretary for Economy and Finance told CNN he was not ruling it out.”We need to trust science and we need to believe in the risk management we have conducted,” Lei Wai Nong said. “At this point in time, the casinos in Macao are totally safe.”

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(CNN) — In summer 2019, it looked for a moment that one of the most controversial issues in 21st century travel might be over.Italy’s transport minister announced that the government had plans to ban cruise ships from the historic center of Venice.The huge ships, grossly oversized compared to the fragile renaissance buildings above which they tower, have long been controversial in the lagoon city. More recently, however, they have become the focal point for anti-tourism protests in the city, their huge bulks becoming a byword for the ugly side of tourism, and the visitors they disgorge representing all “hit and run” tourists who descend on destinations for the day without contributing to the local economy.But in August, Italian transport minister Danilo Toninelli suggested in a parliamentary hearing that ships could be rerouted to two smaller ports on the mainland side of the Venice lagoon. The headlines went around the world — Venice had banned cruise ships. But it hadn’t. And less than a month later, the populist Five Star Movement government — of which Toninelli was a part — fell. The suggestion was in the trash. Two months later, Venice was back in the headlines, hit by the worst flooding since 1966. The controversial MOSE project of flood barriers to protect the lagoon came under fire — although the project has been under construction since 2003, it is still not operational, and many cynical Venetians believe it never will be.And on December 1, the spotlight was on the city again as it held a referendum to vote on whether it should break off from its mainland borough and impose autonomous rule. Luigi Brugnaro, the mayor of the Venice metropolitan area, which encompasses the more inhabited mainland facing the lagoon, had asked citizens to abstain. And, in a victory for the mayor, they did.Although the bid for autonomy won by two thirds of voters, the turnout was just 22% overall, making the referendum void. It had needed a 50% turnout to be effective. Of those living in central Venice, the figures were barely higher — just 32.6%. So is the city at war with itself?”In Venice many people were vocal about the referendum and we had the impression that most were saying, ‘Give us our liberty,’ but in the end only a third of Venice residents voted,” says Venetian Sebastian Fagarazzi. “I think that means either two thirds are fine with the current situation, or don’t believe that change is possible, or reckon that a separation is not the answer to the many problems Venice is facing.”Venetians are leaving the cityKara Fox/CNNFagarazzi is cofounder of Venezia Autentica, a social initiative promoting responsible tourism in the city where relations between locals, tourists and the politicians seem to have become increasingly strained.But although the referendum saw low turnout, his co-founder, partner Valeria Duflot, says that citizens are in crisis. “I think everyone agrees that there are huge challenges — there’s an absence of countermeasures to protect the city from acqua alta [flooding], the tourism is not really sustainable, and there’s a lack of clear immediate action to really help local businesses and residents to be able to stay in Venice,” she says. “There is also a demographic crisis. Pretty much everyone has vanished. If you have an aging population of only 53,000 and you’re doing nothing to retain people who are young, you’re clearly going in the direction of the city disappearing.”The polemics about Venice always revolve around the same issues: cruise ships, overtourism and the gradual exodus of locals from the city. And while the authorities regularly make headlines for mooted initiatives — whether that’s an “access contribution” for day trippers or a ban on new fast food stalls opening — many locals say that not enough is being done quickly enough.So what’s really going on beyond the headlines? CNN spoke to local campaigners as well as Michele Zuin, Venice councilor for the economy, for the local authority’s point of view.Cruising out of control?Cruise ships dwarfing the buildings are a common sightMIGUEL MEDINA/AFP/Getty ImagesImages of vast cruise ships towering over the Venetian skyline as they roll into town, or videos such as the one from June 2019, when a ship crashed into a dock, injuring four, have served as symbols of the problems with modern tourism.And pictures of protesting locals gathering in the best known locations or taking to the water in tiny boats to rail against the cruise ships have become more and more common.Currently, ships enter the port — which is on the western edge of Venice, across a canal from the Santa Croce district — via the scenic route. They enter the lagoon at the northern edge of the Lido — the long, sandbank-like island facing Venice “proper” — and pass the gardens of the Biennale and the famous Riva degli Schiavoni waterfront, before sailing past St Mark’s Square and up the Giudecca Canal, passing narrowly between the island of Giudecca and the central district of Dorsoduro. All, apparently, so that cruise passengers can get that perfect shot of Venice. Locals have long claimed that the cruise issue goes beyond the number of visitors disgorged by the boats. They say that the “grandi navi” (big ships) hurt the fragile ecosystem of the lagoon, damaging the city’s foundations with the displacement of water and stirring up the seabed, effectively creating deeper channels and allowing more seawater into the lagoon. The worsening flooding of the last few years, they say, is not only because of climate change; it’s also down to this erosion. And with every year, the cruise industry produces ever-bigger ships. Every few months, it seems, a solution is mooted and quickly does the rounds of the press — whether that’s sending the ships round the other side of the Lido to the port, or creating a new channel and sending them to the mainland side of the lagoon. But beyond the headlines, Michele Zuin says that the Italian government is handling the decision. Fate will be decided in JanuaryThe cruise ships in the city center may be a thing of the pastMIGUEL MEDINA/AFP/Getty ImagesA government-backed committee, which includes the ministers for the environment and transport, as well as the president of the Veneto region and the Venice mayor, will decide on the future of cruise ships in January 2020, says Zuin. The meeting has been postponed from December 2019.The solution expected to be approved is to force large cruise ships to enter Venice at the “bocca di Malamocco” at the southern end of the Lido — at the opposite end of the island from where they enter now. This is where commercial ships currently pass into the lagoon. From Malamocco, the ships would sail northwards to the current Venice port, bypassing the city center, and entering round the back of Giudecca: a much less beautiful entrance for the tourists, but one that Zuin says the council supports. And when it comes to the ever more enormous ships arriving on the market, Zuin says that the council’s suggested solution for the future is to have them dock at Marghera, on the mainland but still in the lagoon. “It’s a commercial port already and wouldn’t be hard to construct berths for the bigger ships,” he says.Not everyone is in agreement, however. Stefano Micheletti, a spokesperson for the No Grandi Navi committee, which campaigns against the cruise ships, says that the bypassing of St Mark’s is irrelevant, as long as the ships are still allowed into the lagoon. “All the alternatives proposed are inside the lagoon, while the objective is to move [the ships] out of the lagoon,” he says, arguing that the problem isn’t the much discussed aesthetic blight on San Marco; it’s the damage to the ecosystem. “The motors are very polluting but the worst damage is not something you see at first glance. The erosion causes serious damage — it moves mud and sediment into the sea and changes the average height of the lagoon. Over the last few decades [since cruise ships started visiting Venice] with the cruise ships, the lagoon has become an extension of the sea — a gulf, rather than a lagoon.”He says that this, along with climate change, is what’s causing what appears to be a worsening situation with acqua alta flooding. Plans to divert the ships away from the Giudecca Canal will only stop local anger at the ships, he says. Even the mooted mainland locations for a new port are inside the lagoon.”Venice is licking its wounds after last month’s floods — the second highest ever recorded. It has been a disaster and [the floods are] continuing,” he said. The city is used to regular acqua alta in winter, but the water levels have been particularly high since November.Micheletti and his No Grandi Navi companions want a new port to be built in the Adriatic Sea, on the other side of the Lido (similar to the mid-sea ports the Chinese government is currently investing in). If the ships docked there, they say, passengers could be ferried into the city on smaller boats — and going past St Mark’s would be no issue. Everyone would win. “All we ask is for the port to be outside the lagoon,” he says. Zuin says their suggestion is not viable, however. “The smallest of [these ships] contain 4,000 people — there are also some of 6,000 passengers,” he says. “Think how many boats would have to come in and out of the lagoon [to bring the passengers into the city]. “Inventing a new port would be very costly, and would risk many years passing [before anything was achieved.] What we’ve proposed to the government, entering via Malamocco, will not bother anyone and will save San Marco.” Micheletti isn’t convinced by anything that involves the lagoon. “I’m not sure if we even have 11 years [the cut-off date for curbing emissions before ‘catastrophic’ climate change takes place, according to the UN]. We will go under fast.”Historic levels of flooding2019 was a particularly bad year for floodingLuigi Costantini/APOne of Venice’s other long-time controversies is also linked to the lagoon — the MOSE flood barrier which was supposed to protect the city from acqua alta.Construction began in 2003, while the project has been planned since 1987. But it has been beset by problems, delays and bribery and corruption. No fewer than 35 people — including Giorgio Orsoni, the former mayor of Venice — were arrested in 2014.In September 2019, a report by three engineers for Codacons — a non-profit consumer and environment group — stated that, in their view, MOSE was predicated on incorrect assumptions and will not work as has been projected. All three had proposed a different system at the time MOSE was first planned, and say that the trials on the scheme were done under non-sea conditions. The entire project is, they say, a “gamble.” Codacons did not respond to a request for comment from CNN.Stefano Micheletti calls the project a “dud.” He told CNN: “They’ve been saying for years that it will be finished, but it would be impossible.”If sea levels rise, the MOSE would always be open and the port would be closed.”What’s more, he says that there would be other ramifications.”The tide oxygenates the water of the lagoon. So if you put the barriers up, the water won’t be oxygenated. “Even if MOSE works, it would be more of a problem than a solution.”Jane da Mosto, environmental scientist and director of We Are Here Venice, a non-profit campaigning for Venice locals, says that, “If [MOSE] was going to work, it’d be working by now.”Michele Zuin, the councilor, says: “We are closely monitoring the procedures for finishing the Mose project. “It’s not something that is [our responsibility] but we’ve asked that it be got in working order as soon as possible.”The fight (and failure) for independenceFormer Italian prime minister Silvio Berlusconi is escorted by Luigi Brugnaro through the November 2019 floodsFilippo Monteforte/AFP via Getty ImagesFrom its days as the “most serene” Republic of Venice to the early days of the Italian state, Venice was always separate from the rest of the country. At least, it was until 1926 when the authorities annexed it to the mainland to create the “comune,” or municipality, of Venice.The administrative area now includes Venice and the islands, the Lido and Pellestrina (where the MOSE barriers are), and the mainland areas of Marghera, Mestre, Favaro Veneto and Chirignago.In 1999, the lagoon area of Cavallino-Treporti seceded from the rest of the administrative area to become an autonomous district. And since the 1970s, some Venetians — whose dwindling population of 55,000 is dwarfed by that of the mainland — have tried to have referendums on autonomous rule. Four times they’ve won the right to a referendum, and four times the referendum has failed. The last time was in 2003. This year, on the fifth attempt, the referendum failed again, with the 22% turnout failing to make the two-thirds majority a valid vote. “In our hearts we knew it would end up like this,” says Zuin, who claims that the procedure cost €1m ($1.2m). “It’s sad that so much money was spent on something that less than 30% of people voted on.” Yet some of the more strident campaigners remain unhappy. “The fundamental problem is that Venice is completely different from the rest of the municipality,” says Jane Da Mosto. “We need a mayor that can think of Venice 100% of their time. But whatever is best for Venice isn’t what’s going to emerge in the results, because the population is too small to count.” Zuin pooh-poohs the idea of a split between the city and the mainland, pointing out that many Mestre inhabitants are Venetians who’ve been forced out in recent years.”Whoever lives in Mestre feels Venetian,” he says, adding that autonomous rule for the city “would create huge problems for the economy. [The area has] been together for a long time and you can’t separate them.”Yes, there are different needs [between Venice and the mainland] but the comune already knows this. The last administration also worked with this. It’s not like the mayor doesn’t know that the police in Venice go out in boats and on dry land they use cars. It’s not that difficult.”Speaking in December on a day with acqua alta, Da Mosto said she had had difficulty getting to the mainland for a meeting as there had been little communication about the vaporetto schedules during the hours of flooding. “On a day like today, if the mayor is in Mestre worrying about kids’ playgrounds, that’s no good — we needed someone here dealing with the logistics,” she said.Death by overtourismIn high season the city is virtually impassableMiguel Medina/AFP/Getty ImagesVenice has been flooded by visitors for generations, of course, and Venetians have been leaving the city for decades — for ease of life, as well as because of irritation at tourists. But there’s no question that things have been brought to a head in the age of overtourism. As mass tourism increases, visitors are more likely to pay $3 for a tchotchke made who knows where than $30 for a handmade, marble-papered notebook in a tradition dating back to the renaissance period. More critically, the rise of Airbnb has transformed the city’s housing infrastructure. Why would a landlord rent their apartment to a Venetian when they can earn much more money by renting it by the night to tourists willing to pay a higher price?The city authorities have reacted by banning new openings of fast food outlets in 2018. Zuin says they have turned down two official applications for fast food premises, and shut down 10 other outlets that opened under the guise of bars.They have also forbidden the planning of new hotels in the historic center (Venice and the islands, other than the Lido) since June 2017. That’s not to say there have been no recent hotel openings. New hotels for 2019 include Il Palazzo Experimental in Dorsoduro, near the Guggenheim Museum, and Hotel Indigo in the residential district of Sant’Elena.However, the mayor’s office says that anything that has opened since the law came into force, had permission to do so before, and has merely taken time to open. Zuin says that no hotelier has even proposed a new opening since the ruling took effect. The only exception: hotels that also offer a “public service.” This explains the current controversy in Venice around a proposed 10-story hotel in the residential district of Castello, one of the few local-centric areas remaining in Venice. Developers have proposed a gym for the use of local schools, alongside the hotel in an area of unused gasometers, or gas holders. But monks at the neighboring monastery of San Francesco della Vigna have said that the huge building — many times higher than other structures in the area — would block the light from their vineyard (the only one in the center of Venice) and kill their vines. And locals have pointed out that this is one of the few oases from tourism in Venice. Whatever the council decides, it looks set to be a struggle for the soul of the struggling city. The fight against AirbnbThe authorities have ‘disincentivized’ Airbnbmirtmirt/ShutterstockThe rise of Airbnb has transformed the streets of Venice. In August 2019, the city had no fewer than 8,907 listings, according to monitoring site Inside Airbnb. Three quarters of them were entire properties (rather than a room in a local’s house), and 63% of the hosts were advertizing multiple properties. Of course, that’s not counting short-term rentals on other sites.The result? Fewer and fewer options for Venetians wanting to rent, as landlords follow the money. As a result, the population diminishes even more.Italian law prohibits regional councils from imposing their own rental regulations, as Barcelona has done. However, he says that the Ministry of Culture is currently taking evidence from cities including Venice, Florence and Milan about the effect that short-term rentals have on the fabric of the city.And, in no uncertain terms, that effect is devastating. “It’s not just about uncontrolled tourism, it’s that the housing stock is disappearing,” he says. “We are waiting for national legislation that recognizes [short-term rentals are] a damage to cities.”In the meantime, in December 2019 the council created a “disincentive” as a “barrier” for would-be Airbnb hosts: any new short-term rental property must have a septic tank installed underneath the home. Venice’s lagoon setting means it doesn’t have a proper sewer system, but hotels are obliged to build septic tanks, which Zuin calls “very expensive.” And while a hotel can afford to invest, their hope is that individuals won’t be able to. If a landlord wants to do long-term rentals — in other words, renting to locals — they don’t have to complete the work. Running out of time?Tourists will continue coming — but will Venice be able to host them?Archive of the Tourist Board of the Province of VeniceOne thing is for certain: 2020 in Venice will be at least as busy as 2019 was — and likely as controversial.The much-vaunted “contributo di accesso,” or access fee for day-trippers — which will cost up to €8 ($9) per person in peak season — is set to launch in July. Zuin says that the money will go towards public services impacted by tourism, like trash collection and street maintenance. Locals will see their taxes reduced as a result.Having the tourist footfall monitored (there will be controls at the entry points into the city to check that visitors have either paid the fee or have a hotel reservation) will also give them data for future reference, too, he says. And over Christmas 2019, the council approved a €10m ($11.25m) series of new measures for tourism management, including better communication around footfall and flow of tourists, a reorganization of vaporetto (waterbus) stops at Tronchetto, where many tourist buses arrive, and better signposting.So will it work? “We understand that regulating tourism is difficult and overwhelming, that there is no blueprint,” says Duflot. “However, I think being transparent about what’s been blocked as well as what has been passed would be helpful.”Indeed, it took eight weeks of requesting comment from the Venice comune before CNN was granted an interview with Zuin.”There have been positive signs lately, attempt at trying new things,” says Valeria Duflot, who works on a daily basis with Venetian artisans who are feeling the squeeze. “We are all for this and hope to see concrete countermeasures implemented. We personally believe that experimentation is key.”But Venice is running out of time. It needs a more sustainable, more beneficial tourism now and this requires courage and proactivity, not incremental changes.”

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