OK. Good evening and thank you all for coming tonight.

We are debating
the motion that tourism is bad for our city and should be discouraged
without further ado. Let me introduce the first speaker, Mateo Colombo,
who will be proposing the motion. Mateo, as you know, you have 2
minutes to present your initial arguments. I’d like to remind the audience
that there may be no interruption during this part of the debate. There
will be a chance to ask questions after all. The speakers have presented
their arguments and counter arguments. Mateo, your allotted two
minutes start now. Thank you, Mia. Ladies and gentlemen, over the past
few years, tourists have well and truly taken over our city center. Our
pavements seem to be permanently blocked by hordes of tourists taking
selfies and trying to work out where they are. Our residential areas have
become a waste land for locals with schools, corner shops and other
essential services replaced by short stay bed and breakfasts. And our city’s
priceless architectural treasures are crumbling under the strain of too
many feet, too much pollution and too little respect from our unwelcome
visitors. That’s why I firmly believe that tourism should be discouraged, if
not banned altogether. I’d like to present my case by drawing your
attention to 3 irrefutable facts. Firstly, tourists simply get in everybody’s
way all the time. I’m. sure you’ve all experienced the frustration of racing
to get to work or college, only to find your way blocked by a herd of slow
moving sightseers. They clog up the payments, they take over the city’s
parks and squares. They even wander into the roads. They seem to have
no conception that this is a living city where people have to move around
to make a living. For them, it’s just a museum, a photo opportunity, a
place to take off their bucket list before moving on to the next place.
Secondly, there’s the fact that the tourism industry is slowly driving all the
locals out of town. There are now some blocks where every single flat has
become a short stay. B and B. That means there are not enough children
left to justify keeping the schools open so they close. There aren’t enough
locals to frequent normal shops and services like butchers, green grocers
and a hairdressers. So they move out too to be replaced by yet more
overpriced restaurants and tacky souvenir shops. And so the process
continues as more and more long term residents leave and prices
skyrocket. So the few remaining locals come under greater and greater
pressure to follow suit. Finally, I’d like to point out that tourists cause
immense physical damage to the city. Just think of the effect of all those
millions of feet wearing down the stone steps and floors of the castle.
Think about the state of our 600 year old wooden bridge, which I’m
amazed hasn’t yet given away under the strain of all those visitors, More
to the point, what about all the pollution caused by the planes and cruise
ships bringing all those tourists to the city as well as the taxis and
sightseeing busses ferrying them around while they’re here? And what of
the vandalism littering and other mindless damage caused when the city is
filled with people with no respect for its rich heritage or for its long
suffering residence? So to summer, tourists are. Reached the end of your
time limit. Thank you for those ideas. I’d now like to hand over to our
second speaker, Angelina Esposito, who is going to present her team’s
arguments against the motion. Angelina, you have 2 minutes starting now.
But we don’t hear her two minutes. All right, if we only heard one side of
it. All right. So this was Mateo and he’s got a very Italian accent, right?
And Lorenzo. All right