[Compiled by European Times reporter Li Tun] Once Hallstatt, a forest of pines and cypresses, lush and beautiful town buildings, reflected in the clear and bright lake water, like a postcard from heaven.
The picture shows Halstadt in summer. (Image source: Courtesy of the network)
Today, the idyllic and idyllic scenery of Halstadt no longer exists. Tourist buses take tourists here, no matter which corner of the town they go to, except for people or people.
Some of the town's residents could not bear it, and signs prohibited Chinese tourists from entering their gardens. There are also people who have studied the way to make money, and the air can can is sold exclusively Chinese, and often sold out of stock. Some Chinese developers saw business opportunities and produced a "Minmetals version of Halstadt" in Huizhou Cottage in Guangdong Province, which claimed to be 99% similar, and wanted to share the traffic, but it made the original Austrian town more popular in China.
The tourism economy has made the once-bankrupt town full of money, but it has also become the last straw that crushed the 7,000-year-old fairy town.
According to the Austrian newspaper Zeitung, Standard newspaper, the residents of the town have been overwhelmed with the booming tourism of the small town of Hallstatt. The town of just 770 residents receives nearly 10,000 visitors a day. 150,000 people spend the night here every night.
Bus tours make it easier for tourists to take them to what they think is the "most beautiful town", but the explosion of tourists is becoming more and more unbearable. Among them, most of them are Chinese, Japanese, Korean and Thai tourists.
According to The Mayor of Hallstatt, Alexander Scheutz (SPö), in 2014, only 7,917 buses and 105,000 private cars visited Halstatt. By 2018, that number grew to 19,344 and 194613, respectively. The total number of passengers in the whole year reached 1 million.
So, scratch the point ha! After consultations between communities and transport planning experts, Halstadt will restrict the number of buses. It is expected to begin after the end of this summer.
Specifically, Hallstatt will follow the example of the city of Salzburg in establishing new bus restrictions. The parking area for the bus was shifted from the right side of the old town, which was originally close to the town center, to the southern suburbs on the left side of the city.
In addition, the current inbound parking fees will face price increases, and there is still a debate between the 28 euros proposed by the SPD and the 500 euros proposed by the New Party. There is also a time limit for the payment window, and when the window is closed, it will no longer be allowed to drive into Hallstatt.
Although the mayor of Halstadt has repeatedly stressed that the development of tourism is still crucial for this structurally weak small-town community. The arrival of tourists has created a high rate of mobility in the catering industry and local trade, creating economic benefits for the region. For the traditional mining industry, the benefits are not small.
It's just that for the townspeople, they feel like extras in an open-air museum every day: tourists invade their private gardens at will, drones shoot at their houses. As a result, in the 2015 local elections, opposition to mass tourism received more than 28% of the vote.
To ease the burden on local residents, Mayor Scheutz has also worked hard to develop a series of measures to tighten controls on the arrival of large tour groups, and will also develop a multilingual version of hallstatt APP to guide visitors. According to Mr. Mayor's estimates, the number of visitors is expected to decline by 30% between 2019 and 2022.
However, after various reports by the Austrian media, Chinese and foreign netizens really quarreled.
"Mr. Mayor told the reporter of der Spiegel weekly in Germany that there would be no restrictions on tourists, and that it would start to jam people now, and it was faster than turning over a book."
"Who was it that used to kneel there and lick the tourists and say that the town was saved by the tourists?"
"Well, look at the air in Hallstatt, who's going to buy it?"
"The real problem is definitely not the number of tourists, but the lack of management. With better regulation, it will be much easier to deal with.
"I really don't know where the problem is, it would be nice to raise the parking price. Until the upper limit of the tourists can't stand it! This is a typical supply and demand problem. All tourist areas face the same situation.
"I went to Hallstatt in 2011 and there were very few people, and when I went back in 2015, I was almost occupied by Chinese."
"The problem is that they don't spend here at all. The bus drove over, came down to take a few pictures and left. ”
"(It's better to simply ban entry altogether, so that every tourist can only paddle on the lake, once and for all!"
Although many small partners around the editor expressed their understanding of the Limited Guest of Hallstatt, they felt that the town of more than 7,000 years really could not withstand the toss. But limiting customers by increasing prices is not a bit too much.
"It's okay to raise prices, but what's the hell is the new party proposing to go up to 500 euros?"
"Most of the bus tours are Chinese, isn't this a sign that Chinese tourists are restricted?"
"Say it is a limited number of customers, the more restricted the result, the more people want to come, the more tourists are, hahahahaha"
Although For tourists, Hallstart is undoubtedly the first choice for the "most beautiful town", for most Austrians, Hallstad is really nothing, because in their minds, there are so many beautiful towns in the Austrian countryside. Like what:
Alpbach (Alpbach), the "most beautiful town" recommended by the Austrian locals for many years
The whole town was built on the slopes of the Alps, with only one street, and the buildings still maintain an old pattern, and modern houses are not allowed to be built except for wooden buildings. The balconies of every house in the town are filled with flowers, which is why it is called "the most beautiful flower village in Europe".
Heiligenblut, the pearl of southern Austria (Holy Blood Town)
One of the most beautiful villages in Alpine legend. Nestled in the 1,300-metre-long picturesque Gautauern National Park in Austria, backed by the Big Bell Mountains, which are 3,798 meters high, the beauty is like a mural.
Mozart's hometown of st. wolfgang (St. Wolfgang)
Located on the shores of Lake Wolfgang, it is the entrance to the cable car to Schafberg, which has been a favorite holiday and hunting area for habsburg princes and nobles since the Middle Ages. The lake area with its beautiful landscapes and beautiful scenery has also attracted countless artists and literati.
The heart of Tyrol is the small town of Halin Tirol
This is the ancient salt district of the Middle Ages, the former economic center of Tyrol, and home to one of austria's largest medieval old towns. The world's first coin was made in Halle (1486).
And the beautiful Asean lakes. All of them have their own characteristics, and in the end, in response to the Austrians' often saying, Hallstatt is for you foreigners, so we don't go! hehe.
(Editor: Zhu Zeze)