Austrian village asks tourists to stay away

[Eldorado]

"An idyllic Austrian village is the latest destination to fall victim to overtourism, after it was rumoured it was the inspiration behind the kingdom of Arendelle in the popular Disney film Frozen.

"Hallstatt, an hour’s drive from Salzburg, is home to just 780 residents, but visitor numbers have soared from 100 a day in 2009 to 10,000 a day in 2019 – six times the number of tourists per capita that Venice receives.

"This onslaught has happened in stages: in 2006, the village featured in the South Korean programme Spring Watch; in 2011, a Chinese business mogul built a complete replica of Hallstatt in the southern Guangdong Province, at a cost of £700m; and in recent years, the fabled Arendelle connection has attracted even more interest.

"The problem was exacerbated further after Hallstatt went viral across east Asia for being the “most Instagrammable town in the world”."

Full report at the UK Independent: https://www.independent.co.uk/travel/news-and-advice/frozen-village-hallstatt-tourists-overtourism-austria-unesco-a9273561.html

At the UK Guardian: https://www.theguardian.com/film/shortcuts/2020/jan/06/let-it-go-why-the-mayor-of-hallstatt-is-telling-frozen-fans-to-stay-away

[Myles]

16 minutes ago, Eldorado said:

"An idyllic Austrian village is the latest destination to fall victim to overtourism, after it was rumoured it was the inspiration behind the kingdom of Arendelle in the popular Disney film Frozen.

"Hallstatt, an hour’s drive from Salzburg, is home to just 780 residents, but visitor numbers have soared from 100 a day in 2009 to 10,000 a day in 2019 – six times the number of tourists per capita that Venice receives.

"This onslaught has happened in stages: in 2006, the village featured in the South Korean programme Spring Watch; in 2011, a Chinese business mogul built a complete replica of Hallstatt in the southern Guangdong Province, at a cost of £700m; and in recent years, the fabled Arendelle connection has attracted even more interest.

"The problem was exacerbated further after Hallstatt went viral across east Asia for being the “most Instagrammable town in the world”."

Full report at the UK Independent: https://www.independent.co.uk/travel/news-and-advice/frozen-village-hallstatt-tourists-overtourism-austria-unesco-a9273561.html

At the UK Guardian: https://www.theguardian.com/film/shortcuts/2020/jan/06/let-it-go-why-the-mayor-of-hallstatt-is-telling-frozen-fans-to-stay-away

Tourism $$ is easy money.   They should deal with it for a couple years and then it'll be gone.

[aztek]

good point, charge them 200 euro for entering the village. or if they do not want that money, make it a gated community, and allow access only to residents and their guests.

[Space Commander Travis]

I thought this was going to be the village of *******. (It begins with F.)

[Orphalesion]

22 minutes ago, aztek said:

. or if they do not want that money, make it a gated community, and allow access only to residents and their guests.

That would be economic suicide since that place very much lives from tourism. Even in the article it says they'd just like to reduce the influx of tourists by a third.

[Piney]

48 minutes ago, Myles said:

Tourism $$ is easy money.   They should deal with it for a couple years and then it'll be gone.

There was a nice section of the  New Jersey Shore called Long Beach Island. All farmers and professionals' summer homes. Then some Philly schmucks bought land and put hotels and rides on the lots. My family had a couple of summer houses there but nothing special because a storm would destroy them eventually.

It's ****ed now. 

[Piney]

Just now, Orphalesion said:

That would be economic suicide since that place very much lives from tourism. Even in the article it says they'd just like to reduce the influx of tourists by a third.

Do they still have the museum with ancient Celtic artifacts in it? 

[Orphalesion]

4 minutes ago, Piney said:

Do they still have the museum with ancient Celtic artifacts in it? 

I haven't been there since I was a child, but as far as I know yes (and google confirms that). It would be very unwise of them to get rid of that, since again, they need tourists for their economy.
Of course there's a lot of Celtic museums in that area since the salt deposits made it very important, especially during that era.

Edited January 8, 2020 by Orphalesion

[Piney]

Just now, Orphalesion said:

Of course there's a lot of Celtic museums in that area since the salt deposits made it very important, especially during that era.

It was the birthplace of  the Celtic ethnos.