Venice faces downgrade from UNESCO heritage list

The ancient and beautiful Italian water city of Venice could be downgraded from the United Nations' World Heritage List over concerns about the damage caused by the large number of tourists who visit it.

The fate of the city in the eyes of the UN's Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization will be decided during its annual meeting in the Saudi Arabian capital Riyadh that began on Sunday and continues until Sept 25.

Other sites on the list, including Kyiv in Ukraine and Australia's Great Barrier Reef, are also facing possible downgrades, while around 50 sites are seeking inclusion for the first time.

The listing of 1,157 sites is frequently used to attract tourists and investment to locations. However, sites that deteriorate while on the list can be declared "in danger" and could even be eventually dropped.

Six sites are facing the prospect of being declared "in danger" at the current Riyadh meeting.

In the case of Venice, UNESCO will consider rising water levels attributed to global warming as well as the large number of tourists who visit the city, Lazare Eloundou Assomo, UNESCO's director of world heritage, told Agence France-Presse.

"We don't know what will happen," he said.

In July, UNESCO said it would consider adding Venice to the "in danger "list because of the "irreversible" damage attributed to climate change and because of excess tourism, as well as the "lack of significant progress" the nation's government had made in addressing the issues.

Venice is so overwhelmed by tourists that visitors' beds outnumber those of locals, with 49,693 tourists' beds in contrast with 49,304 for residents, The Guardian reported.

In addition to the many tourists who sleep in Venice each night, around 40,000 visit from elsewhere each day, which has prompted the local government to introduce an entrance ticket of 5 euros ($5.37) starting next year.

Matteo Secchi, who runs local campaign group Venessia.com, told The Guardian: "We feel like foreigners in our own home, because, when you walk along the streets, we are in the minority."

At the same meeting where Venice's status will be decided, several aspiring locations are vying for inclusion on the coveted list, including a 900-kilometer stretch of the ancient Silk Road known as the Zarafshan-Karakum Corridor, which Tajikistan, Turkmenistan and Uzbekistan have jointly put forward for consideration.