Rimini, August 15, 1979. The beach covered with umbrellas | Credit:
Davide Minghini Archive - Gambalunga Civic Library, Rimini ---- We
believe it might be misleading to try to understand what has happened
and what is happening in this region, the Romagna Riviera, regarding the
tourism industry without introducing some additional analytical tools
beyond those of gentrification and overtourism. We are referring to the
overbuilding and the decline of labor relations, which are closely
intertwined.
The tourism industry, diversely structured and fragmented in its
offering of all kinds of services, has always produced a large amount of
black money, unchecked by tax authorities. Until not many years ago,
this money flowed into the compliant banks of small neighboring
republics and often financed real estate speculation, which meant the
overbuilding of the territory. Over time, so-called "real estate"
investments have increasingly generated higher returns than those
achieved by investing in tourism hospitality businesses and their
related industries, a return that appreciates strongly over time.
This has led to a progressive disinvestment in tourism businesses, which
have often remained at a level of quality that has stagnated since the
1990s, if not earlier.
This disinvestment has also affected, and to a significant extent, the
wages of workers and the maintenance of employment relationships.
The paternalistic model, typical of the Emilia-Romagna region's
post-World War II production system, had characterized the relationships
between tourism businesses and seasonal workers, guaranteeing barely
decent wages and small annual raises that allowed many to survive during
the winter months in exchange for labor and social peace. Rights
stripped to the bone, no days off, pay often regularized for half the
hours and sometimes not at all, "but if you need it, you can take time
off, but not too often, and if you don't cause any problems, at the end
of the season you'll get a bonus on the sidelines, obviously under the
table. But here you're with family, there's watermelon on August 15th,
pizza in September."
This model, already highly criticized, held firm for decades. It
produced no professional development or growth, and salaries-despite the
extra pay-were still not adequate for rising inflation. With the
exception of a small elite of professionals employed in high-end hotels
and restaurants, it mostly employed students who had to pay for their
studies and housewives who gave up their livelihood for three or four
months, sacrificing themselves to supplement the family budget. The
consequences and sacrifices affected not only the seasonal workers, but
also their families; Those not recruited into the various branches of
the tourism industry, especially children, were parked for the tourist
season with grandparents and relatives in the countryside, waiting for
autumn and the return to a normal family life.
But once it was established that investing in construction and
apartments was more cost-effective, since the 1990s, entrepreneurs have
increasingly allocated resources to them, diverting them from
renovations and modernization of facilities. Abandoning any ambition to
offer a good standard of quality, the tourism production system has
moved on to the dismantling of wages and the paltry rights of seasonal
workers, until then guaranteed by an unwritten and therefore easily
disregarded social pact.
The general decline of most tourism facilities has been accompanied by
the deterioration of employment relationships with seasonal workers, who
have been progressively replaced by workers from Eastern Europe and
migrants in general, willing to work for paltry wages and extremely
subject to blackmail.
The situation was and is thus: a downgraded tourist offer of services
and facilities, renovations reduced to the bare minimum, and real estate
speculation flourishing.
The status of a successful entrepreneur entitles each child to at least
one apartment, though they will never live there because they've moved
to the US or Great Britain to study or work. Meanwhile, they find
themselves with an apartment registered as their resident, thus avoiding
taxes on a second or third home. If necessary, grandparents and in-laws
can also be enlisted, thus increasing the potential number of
apartments. This construction frenzy also produces other effects beyond
land predation. Non-tourism building renovation projects, for example,
often result in increases in cubic capacity, and where two families once
lived, six or more will eventually move in. This results in traffic
congestion and a lack of parking, particularly in cities like Rimini, a
city founded by Rome and certainly not designed for cars, where every
square meter of the seaside area has been occupied by construction.
Successful public administrations have been careful not to challenge
this speculative decline, instead undertaking attempts to modernize
infrastructure where private investors have rejected this function (in
these parts, they say "tie the pig").
These efforts, however, are paid for by the community, and it should be
noted that a significant portion of tourism entrepreneurs declare
incomes below the poverty line, thus contributing very little to the
common good. These investments by local governments then divert
resources from public housing and welfare services, in a city where
finding a home for those with few resources is impossible.
There are certainly companies that invest in their facilities and
enforce labor contracts, but their number is certainly not significant
enough to establish a system.
The dominant trend continues to be a general decline, characterized by
improvised tourism-preying enterprises and an ever-increasing share of
apartments for short-term rentals, while others remain empty, destined
for dormant investment. This has resulted in a bloated real estate
market, which has now reached such high per-square-meter prices that it
is inaccessible to most.
As for workers, the long-standing pact that had characterized their
relationships with tourism entrepreneurs has now been definitively torn
apart by the latter, often adventurers from far and wide who have never
even heard of the aforementioned. Those who are not subjected to
exploitative conditions can settle at the exit; others will take their
place, and they won't even find a basement space to rent because every
square meter is rented at astronomical prices.
Nothing new? Nothing new.
Once again, all that glitters is theirs.
Libertarian Cultural Circle of Rimini
https://umanitanova.org/intorno-a-turismo-overtourism-e-gentrificazione-sulla-riviera-romagnola/
_________________________________________
A - I N F O S N E W S S E R V I C E
By, For, and About Anarchists
Send news reports to A-infos-en mailing list
A-infos-en@ainfos.ca
Davide Minghini Archive - Gambalunga Civic Library, Rimini ---- We
believe it might be misleading to try to understand what has happened
and what is happening in this region, the Romagna Riviera, regarding the
tourism industry without introducing some additional analytical tools
beyond those of gentrification and overtourism. We are referring to the
overbuilding and the decline of labor relations, which are closely
intertwined.
The tourism industry, diversely structured and fragmented in its
offering of all kinds of services, has always produced a large amount of
black money, unchecked by tax authorities. Until not many years ago,
this money flowed into the compliant banks of small neighboring
republics and often financed real estate speculation, which meant the
overbuilding of the territory. Over time, so-called "real estate"
investments have increasingly generated higher returns than those
achieved by investing in tourism hospitality businesses and their
related industries, a return that appreciates strongly over time.
This has led to a progressive disinvestment in tourism businesses, which
have often remained at a level of quality that has stagnated since the
1990s, if not earlier.
This disinvestment has also affected, and to a significant extent, the
wages of workers and the maintenance of employment relationships.
The paternalistic model, typical of the Emilia-Romagna region's
post-World War II production system, had characterized the relationships
between tourism businesses and seasonal workers, guaranteeing barely
decent wages and small annual raises that allowed many to survive during
the winter months in exchange for labor and social peace. Rights
stripped to the bone, no days off, pay often regularized for half the
hours and sometimes not at all, "but if you need it, you can take time
off, but not too often, and if you don't cause any problems, at the end
of the season you'll get a bonus on the sidelines, obviously under the
table. But here you're with family, there's watermelon on August 15th,
pizza in September."
This model, already highly criticized, held firm for decades. It
produced no professional development or growth, and salaries-despite the
extra pay-were still not adequate for rising inflation. With the
exception of a small elite of professionals employed in high-end hotels
and restaurants, it mostly employed students who had to pay for their
studies and housewives who gave up their livelihood for three or four
months, sacrificing themselves to supplement the family budget. The
consequences and sacrifices affected not only the seasonal workers, but
also their families; Those not recruited into the various branches of
the tourism industry, especially children, were parked for the tourist
season with grandparents and relatives in the countryside, waiting for
autumn and the return to a normal family life.
But once it was established that investing in construction and
apartments was more cost-effective, since the 1990s, entrepreneurs have
increasingly allocated resources to them, diverting them from
renovations and modernization of facilities. Abandoning any ambition to
offer a good standard of quality, the tourism production system has
moved on to the dismantling of wages and the paltry rights of seasonal
workers, until then guaranteed by an unwritten and therefore easily
disregarded social pact.
The general decline of most tourism facilities has been accompanied by
the deterioration of employment relationships with seasonal workers, who
have been progressively replaced by workers from Eastern Europe and
migrants in general, willing to work for paltry wages and extremely
subject to blackmail.
The situation was and is thus: a downgraded tourist offer of services
and facilities, renovations reduced to the bare minimum, and real estate
speculation flourishing.
The status of a successful entrepreneur entitles each child to at least
one apartment, though they will never live there because they've moved
to the US or Great Britain to study or work. Meanwhile, they find
themselves with an apartment registered as their resident, thus avoiding
taxes on a second or third home. If necessary, grandparents and in-laws
can also be enlisted, thus increasing the potential number of
apartments. This construction frenzy also produces other effects beyond
land predation. Non-tourism building renovation projects, for example,
often result in increases in cubic capacity, and where two families once
lived, six or more will eventually move in. This results in traffic
congestion and a lack of parking, particularly in cities like Rimini, a
city founded by Rome and certainly not designed for cars, where every
square meter of the seaside area has been occupied by construction.
Successful public administrations have been careful not to challenge
this speculative decline, instead undertaking attempts to modernize
infrastructure where private investors have rejected this function (in
these parts, they say "tie the pig").
These efforts, however, are paid for by the community, and it should be
noted that a significant portion of tourism entrepreneurs declare
incomes below the poverty line, thus contributing very little to the
common good. These investments by local governments then divert
resources from public housing and welfare services, in a city where
finding a home for those with few resources is impossible.
There are certainly companies that invest in their facilities and
enforce labor contracts, but their number is certainly not significant
enough to establish a system.
The dominant trend continues to be a general decline, characterized by
improvised tourism-preying enterprises and an ever-increasing share of
apartments for short-term rentals, while others remain empty, destined
for dormant investment. This has resulted in a bloated real estate
market, which has now reached such high per-square-meter prices that it
is inaccessible to most.
As for workers, the long-standing pact that had characterized their
relationships with tourism entrepreneurs has now been definitively torn
apart by the latter, often adventurers from far and wide who have never
even heard of the aforementioned. Those who are not subjected to
exploitative conditions can settle at the exit; others will take their
place, and they won't even find a basement space to rent because every
square meter is rented at astronomical prices.
Nothing new? Nothing new.
Once again, all that glitters is theirs.
Libertarian Cultural Circle of Rimini
https://umanitanova.org/intorno-a-turismo-overtourism-e-gentrificazione-sulla-riviera-romagnola/
_________________________________________
A - I N F O S N E W S S E R V I C E
By, For, and About Anarchists
Send news reports to A-infos-en mailing list
A-infos-en@ainfos.ca
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