In Austria, a small village that inspired several films faces overtourism

Every year, more than 1.4 million tourists travel to Hallstatt, Austria. A village of barely 750 souls, which partly inspired the famous animated film “Frozen”, which is a victim of its own success.

With its lakes and mountains, the Salzkammergut region corresponds to the idyllic image of Austria, but today it is confronted with overtourism. One village in particular is confronted with this: Hallstatt. Situated on the edge of a lake with a view of the mountains, it offers a spectacular panorama.

The photo points, set up along the main street, are stormed by hordes of tourists, including Lee, a young Chinese woman who came with two friends: “People post lots of pretty pictures, selfies or landscape photos and that’s what attracts people here.” She also acknowledges that social networks have had a great influence on her. “I came here because a friend posted pictures on Instagram,” she assures.

Hallstatt became famous in Asia in the late 2000s thanks to a South Korean series. The village was even completely faked in China. Rumors also point to the town as the inspiration for the Kingdom of Snow QueenResult: more than 1.4 million tourists each year, and a difficult daily life for the inhabitants. “We are in a village, but we have the same problems as the city, there is a lot of noise and waste,” laments Isabelle, a French woman who has lived in Hallstatt for 20 years.

“We go out in the morning and evening, but during the day there are too many people and we can’t stand it.”

Isablle, resident of Hallstatt

to franceinfo

She also denounces the daily presence of drones:“I don’t know what they’re filming, but I can tell you that when there’s a drone three meters from your window, it’s not really pleasant. We’re fed up. Whether we go anywhere, on foot, by car, we’re in a mass that’s not normal for a village.”

The main challenge for the mayor of the municipality since 2009, Alexander Scheutz, is therefore to find solutions to regulate this tourism. Until a certain time, “There were up to 70 to 80 tourist buses a day, it was no longer possible,” says the elected official, who therefore set up a system of time slots. “They have to register and we accept a maximum of 54 per day,” explains Alexander Scheutz, which has helped to reduce “Last year, the number of tourists who came by bus was halved.”

“But we see that many tourists are now turning to taxis, trains, rental cars. In fact, we see that if people want to come to Hallstatt, they come,” deplores the mayor of the village. Today he is calling on regional and federal authorities to finally curb the number of daily tourists and protect Hallstatt, a UNESCO World Heritage Site.