Hotels in Venice-one of the most traveled to destinations in the world-are suffering massive financial losses after last month's floods devastated the Italian city.
Venice's hoteliers association estimates that the city's hotels suffered losses of about 30 million euros ($34 million USD) in November when floods ravaged the city.
And that's just structural damage from the water.
The true amount of financial loss will come when the hotels tally up the decrease in revenue from significantly lower bookings from tourists, who stayed away from the city until the flooding was under control.
"We are still waiting to calculate the loss in revenue and to quantify how much was lost in terms of cancelled reservations," Venice hoteliers association's president Vittorio Bonacini said Friday during a press conference in Rome with the foreign press.
Earlier this month, the city's hoteliers association said that in the immediate aftermath of the flooding, 45 percent of reservations were canceled.
As we approach the New Year's Eve holiday, Bonacini said Venice hotels-which were fully booked for New Year's last year-are "far below 50 percent of the available rooms."
The high tides that raised the waters in Venice even forced cruise ships to re-route.
Total damage to the city that attracts 25 million tourists a year has been estimated at $1 billion.
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