We believe it might be misleading to try to understand what has happened
and what is happening in this region, the Romagna Riviera, regarding thetourism industry without introducing some additional analytical tools
beyond those of gentrification and overtourism. We are referring to
overbuilding and the decline of labor relations, which are closely
linked. The tourism hospitality 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
recently, this money flowed into the compliant banks of small
neighboring republics and often financed real estate speculation, which
meant overbuilding the territory. So-called "real estate" investments
have over time begun to generate increasingly higher returns than those
that could be 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 stagnant 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 since the
Second World War, had characterized the relationship 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 were stripped to
the bare minimum, with no days off, and pay often regularized for half
the hours, 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 can expect a bonus on the sidelines, obviously under
the table. But here you're with family; there's watermelon in August,
pizza in September."
This model, already highly criticized, has held up for decades. It
didn't generate any 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 employed mostly students who had
to pay for their studies and housewives who gave up their livelihoods
for three or four months, sacrificing themselves to supplement the
family budget. The consequences and sacrifices affected not only
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 given 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. Having abandoned any ambition to offer a
high standard of quality, the tourism production system has shifted 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 tourist 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
vulnerable to blackmail.
The resulting disaster was and is: a downgraded tourist offering of
services and facilities, renovations reduced to the bare minimum, and a
flourishing of real estate speculation.
The status of a successful entrepreneur entitles each child to at least
one apartment, which they will never live in because they have moved to
the US or Great Britain to study or work. Meanwhile, they find
themselves with an apartment registered as their resident, thus avoiding
paying 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 exploitation. Non-tourist renovation projects, for example, often
result in increases in cubic meters, 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 in Rome and certainly not designed for cars, where every square
meter of the seaside area has been occupied by construction. Successive
public administrations have been careful not to challenge this
speculative involution, instead undertaking attempts to modernize
infrastructure where the private sector has 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 businesses that invest in their facilities and
enforce employment contracts, but their number is certainly not
significant enough to determine a system.
The dominant trend continues to be a general decline, characterized by
improvised tourism-related exploits and an ever-increasing number of
apartments earmarked for short-term rentals, while others remain empty,
destined for dormant investment. This has inflated the 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
up 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 down 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.
Rimini Libertario Cultural Circle
https://umanitanova.org/intorno-a-turismo-overtourism-e-gentrificazione-sulla-riviera-romagnola/
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