Italy’s most popular tourist destination, the island of Capri, is back in business and open again to certain categories of tourists after a water emergency forced authorities there to halt arrivals on Saturday 22 June.
A healthcare emergency
At the height of the season, up to 16,000 visitors a day usually arrive on Capri, but the weekend saw morning ferries turned around and sent back to port, after damage to aqueduct pipes had left the island, which sits an hour off the Sorrento Coast, reliant on water tanks, with its 13,000 locals allowed to draw up to 25 litres of water per household.
Announcing the temporary ban on tourists early on Saturday, the island’s mayor, Paolo Falco, explained that authorities had been “working through the night to … secure water shipments and tankers carrying water”. He apologised for the measure saying, “there was nothing I could do … my priority had to be to prevent a healthcare emergency.” He emphasised that the crisis “would be worsened by the arrival of the thousands of tourists who arrive on Capri daily.”
Da stamattina possono sbarcare sull'isola di Capri solo i residenti, ma non i turisti. Lo stabilisce un'ordinanza urgente emanata dal sindaco Paolo Falco, a causa del guasto della condotta idrica che rifornisce l'isola.#capri #emergenza #acqua pic.twitter.com/b4bYzyB2BW
— Repubblica (@repubblica) June 22, 2024
Ban lifted for hotel guests and second homeowners
By the evening though, efforts to secure the water supply had paid off and the emergency had been averted enough for the tourist ban to be revoked – for some tourists at least. The updated ban would no longer apply to “people who own second homes, which often have their own water tank and tourists with a hotel booking. It will be the hotels’ responsibility to ensure they have water,” Falco told Italian news programme TGCOM24.
That means daytrippers, cruise ships, and people who have booked a vacation rental can, at the time of writing, no longer access Capri.
700 million people could be displaced by intense water scarcity by 2030.
UNICEF
Global problem
As global temperatures continue to get warmer, UNICEF estimates that as much as “half of the world’s population could be living in areas facing water scarcity by as early as 2025” and “700 million people could be displaced by intense water scarcity by 2030”. The UN body recommends national planning for water needs and urban water scarcity.
More sustainable water management is increasingly becoming a watchword for holiday destinations too, where people’s livelihoods depend on a healthy tourist sector. A Greek ombudsman recently warned that a radical overhaul of the island nation’s water resources was needed in order to future proof its tourism sector. And amid a month-long drought that has imposed water restrictions on Canary Islanders, there have been protests about the sector’s water-guzzling practices.
