They mocked the decision of the Austrian tourist paradise: the fence did not work

The “anti-selfie fence” put up in Hallstatt in mid-May due to the visitor offensive did not prove to be a good solution – the not-so-tourism-friendly decision of the Upper Austrian settlement, which lives on a large number of visitors, soon attracted the attention of the international media.

The press was outraged because the Hallsatti municipality covered the attractions of the picturesque area and the greater part of the lakeshore by erecting a wooden, less aesthetic selfie fence, which deprived the tourists coming to the settlement of the opportunity to take landscape photos.

Public indignation has now prevailed: the artificial selfie wall set up at the most beautiful panoramic point of the town of 730 people has been demolished, but the locals are still worried about the mass arrival of tourists.

They love guests in Austria

At least this is what the so-called tourism acceptance index published recently at the in-laws says. According to the representative survey, there is an average level of sympathy for tourism among Austrian residents (more than three-quarters of them believe that the sector has become the driving force behind the sustainability revolution in the post-epidemic period), although in some busier settlements there is significant local resentment towards the phenomena of overtourism. In Austria, therefore, according to the strategic documents of the industry, they strive to ensure that, with appropriate regulations, visitor traffic serves to increase the quality of life of local residents. According to the Tourism Master Plan, this is no longer called tourism, but the visitor economy, the essential question of which is how the local economy can be strengthened with the help of travelers so that in exchange for their money, the guests are also enriched with experiences, but all those involved in tourism do well.

They can’t stand the Asian crowd

“This did not solve the problem, because the constantly arriving army of visitors is a huge challenge,” quotes Alexander Scheutz, the mayor of the settlement, as quoted by GD Consulting, a tourism consulting company based in Vienna.

The head of the local authority explained to the Austrian Kurier that the municipality employs 12 people just to control tourist dumping, in addition to the fact that they have already limited the number of vehicles allowed to enter: 54 buses and 450 cars can park in the area at the same time.

The local leadership is caught between two fires, as the population in Hallstatt in the Gmunden district is known to have a hard time coping with the enormous visitor traffic, so they are trying critical solutions such as the selfie fence that covers the sights but creates even more attention for the settlement.

According to the new ideas, instead of the torn down “cordon”, a sign will warn the arrivals at the site, on which they plan to write that the people there would live their lives in peaceful conditions and would like to be left to themselves.

“Dear tourist! Don’t be loud!”

One of the most indignant sending areas was Asia, where the arrivals from China and South Korea account for more than a third of the settlement’s guest traffic.

China’s tour operators have already been contacted with the intention of working out time windows for larger groups to stay there, the mayor indicated. In addition, they also initiated the tour operators to inform their guests via headset microphones in the future that the loud shouting disturbs the people in the area.

(Author: Katalin Thurzó)