For others it’s a symbol of the excesses of the modern world: a city turned into a theme park, trampled by over tourism and hollowed out by vacation rentals. The statistics are stark. Around 30 million tourists visit Venice every year, dwarfing the local population, which has now dwindled to less than 50,000.

Venetians wanting to remain in their city face a lack of housing stock — since homes have been converted into vacation rentals — a lack of shops for day-to-day life, and a lack of jobs for anyone not involved in the tourist industry. In the meantime, the visitors keep coming, and keep posting those delectable canal shots on Instagram. Around 90 percent of them are thought to be day-trippers — so although they don’t take up that ever-dwindling housing stock, they use city resources but leave virtually no money behind in the local economy. No wonder some people call Venice the “dying city” and the “sinking city,” Simone Venturini, the city councilor for tourism, tells CNN in the documentary “The Whole Story: Saving Venice.” (CNN)