We were just in Halstatt, and we only stayed a couple hours. Guilty.
Why?
It is a tourist trap. I saw no sign of any other industry. If Halstatt wants to cut down on tourists, Halstatt should become something other than an alpine boardwalk.
Stunningly beautiful to photograph, but the local businesses cater to the lowest common tourist denominator. The food is marginal, intended for people who just need to grab something and go. The shops sell the kind of low-grade touristy kitsch that you’d be disappointed to unpack.
To hear they want to reduce tourists is ludicrous. What else do they have to make a living from?
13
My wife and I were just there. Forget Halstatt, go to St. Gilgen.
Halstatt is tunningly beautiful. But little reason to stay after taking all the pics.
You walk down the one pedestrian road, “The Gauntlet,” past all the tacky souvenir shops and lunch spots that can’t hold a candle to what you find in Salzburg’s Altstadt (the tourist destination there).
It was the closest thing to the Jersey Shore I saw in Austria.
If the locals want fewer tourists, they need to change their business model. Because it looks like they can’t live without them.
Austria is a beautiful, friendly, fastidious nation. Everything is just so. The food, all price points, is exceptional.
Halstatt is the outlier. Other than the views, no real reason to stay.
If you want lake mountains in a “real” Austrian village, nearby St. Gilgen delivers all that Halstatt can’t.
9
The other day Trader Joe´s at 14 street east, the new one, between first and avenue A had a bus carrying tourists arriving, taking pictures and buying stuff...
9
Last year, my girlfriend and I went to Barcelona –which itself is overrun by tourists taking selfies of the silliest of things – and one day we took a trip to Girona, where the Sept in GOT was filmed. Living in NYC we try to avoid touristy things and tourists in general. In our travels together, we often find ourselves in these remote places with little access to the larger world outside of their exposure to tourists. We spent a few hours in Girona. We had lunch and then went to a bar, even considered getting a tattoo in the lone tattoo shop there.
Even though they had signs all over the place that translated to “tourists go home” we went and supported their businesses because thats what you should do. Your Instagram post doesn’t support them. It ruins these places, especially for those just trying to make a living and other tourists attempting to enjoy the beauty of it all. It’s a shame that more people don’t do the same. Maybe these places wouldn’t be so annoyed by tourists presence if we supported them outside of our own vanity.
16
The tourism experience has been declining steadily for centuries. Remember the good old days when there were less than a billion people in the world and hardly anyone could afford to travel. At the same time, local cultures were really local. They might speak a different language or dialect and have their own unique culture every 50 miles away in the old Holy Roman Empire. Or on every inhabited Island in the Pacific. Now you pay thousands of dollars to travel with a horde of others to a crowded place and eat at McDonalds and get a coffee at Starbucks. Might as well stay home.
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It's very near Salzburg, another tourist destination.
2
I divide my time between NYC and LA -- two "mega tourist" cities.
Let's face it. Tourists are selfie snapping pests. They almost make me yearn to live in some boring suburb of some meaningless city in some forgettable country! You know, the kind of place that tourists come FROM!
23
It's life in the age of globalization
The tourists are mostly Chinese. China , by now, has a middle class larger than the population of the United States
They now want to see the world. Understandably
Meantime, those Americans saw their jobs disappear to China can no longer afford to take their own kids to Disneyland.
47
Fans of "Fargo" never create such problems.
89
The simple solution as in China: 3D print a replica village some miles away and send all the tourists there.
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@BarryG Switzerland did just that with "Heidiland"
2
Ha! People still flock to Carrie Bradshaw's TV apartment in the West Village. Ridiculous! They need to get a life!
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It's the China syndrome
From the Neue Zuericher Zeitung ,
"How Hallstatt defends itself against the Chinese tourist flood
"We came to Hallstatt because it's famous and we don't have much time." The young Chinese woman Lin stands at the Hallstatt viewpoint and throws herself in extravagant poses while her mother fiddles with the smartphone. This photo must succeed. The two Asian women are currently on a two-week short tour across Europe, and each station wants to be impressively documented in its own social media profile. In Hallstatt this means capturing the following motif: the picturesque lake in the background as well as the two churches and the wooden houses nestling on the steep mountain slopes. "It's a paradise, you have to see it," says Lin.
Hallstatt has experienced the phenomenon of overtourism in extreme form in recent years. On peak days in summer, over 10,000 tourists crowd through the 750-soul village in the Austrian Salzkammergut. Chinese in particular are rushing from the parking lots at the entrance to the village through the only village street, past souvenir shops, to the market square and further to the viewing platform to take the obligatory photo - and then leave soon afterwards. The number of arriving coaches has doubled to 20,000 in just a few years, with over a million people visiting Hallstatt this year.
NZZ, 23.08.2019, (Google Translation)
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@talesofgenji Last year during a road trip in Norway, the owner of a lovely, quiet inn on a fjord where we stayed warned us that soon the busses of Chinese tourists would begin arriving and the peaceful setting would be chaos till late afternoon.
They took pictures and commandeered the electrical outlets in his small shop to to cook their own food. They spent little or nothing, disrupted everything then boarded the busses to descend on the next photo stop like locusts on a farmer's field. This scene repeated itself throughout the day.
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Thank the deities that I was there in '84. No Selfie-Stick boorish tourists back then...just boorish.
Back in my youth I stayed at a hostel and then got busted for fishing illegally in the lake. Good times. No selfies
15
Make it like the Alaska Permanent Fund. You have to have to stay 3 days.
5
Charge tourists a $200 entry fee and limit it to 100 a day. Problem solved.
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I suggest hefty fees from river and other cruise boats. Have the denizens of these boats miss one “saddle up the the feeding trough” meals to pay for them.
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Where did all these travelers come from? Remember when it was exotic to go overseas? I think it's the inequality of wealth that is fueling these mass invasions. Traveling should be a treat, not a way of life. Moderation in all things.
11
Pointless tourism exacerbates climate change. Remember that all of these world travelers burned a HUGE amount of fossil fuels to arrive at their destinations to snap pictures.
It's sad, depressing, and demoralizing to me that we have traded fleeting images for our planet's life support systems.
(That said, Energy, Transportation, and Construction industries are the biggest emitters of carbon)
15
Lucky I went 10 years ago - a beautiful and quiet place. Over tourism hurts the little town a lot, especially those from the country with 1.4b people. Read articles that they don’t respect residents and sneak into their houses without asking.
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And who will be the first to complain when the tourists lose interest and stop coming? Sell tickets, sell merchandise, build a mandatory parking lot for buses and charge through the roof then use the money to improve the town’s infrastructure and lower taxes when times are good. Tourists are exceptionally loose with money, and the locals should take advantage of the situation while it lasts.
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@Andy In other words, turn Halstatt into another Las Vegas? I don't think so. Besides, the trouble is that most of the tourists come only for that Instagram photo. Snap, and it's time to leave. Here in Japan, there's the expression "tourism pollution". (https://www.theinvisibletourist.com/overtourism-in-japan-tourist-pollution/) Prime Minister Abe has to rethink his goal to double or triple the number of tourists coming here.
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I agree.
But to be fair, Halstatt is ill equipped for that, due to its physical geography. There is only one road in and out, and one pedestrian street in the village. It is nestled on the edge of a mountain that plunges into a lake.
It doesn’t take much to choke the place with crowds.
But the local economy targets little else.
3
This really is a global problem, and I think it has a disproportionate impact upon Indigenous peoples around the world. Every summer, multiple cruise ships ply the northwest passage, and make day-stops in some very small (population <1000) Inuit communities along Canada's Arctic coasts. Although the communities try to offer services in order to capitalize on the (usually very wealthy) visitors, they can be very quickly overwhelmed. Some of the more ethical tour companies work very closely with Inuit communities to ensure a sustainable and mutually-beneficial experience. But even still, it's a double edged sword. Unlike Hallstatt, communities along the North Baffin Island Coast can't simply truck in more food, drinks, and goods after the tourists leave. The logistics are very demanding, tying up much needed resources, and create skewed priorities around infrastructure. And God forbid if a cruise ship should ever run aground or if catastrophic medical attention is needed in the Arctic. Indigenous people all around the world are facing similar dilemmas.
As for Hallstatt: I dare say that the 'Frozen' franchise is not the 'Sound of Music'. Today it's Hallstatt, but tomorrow the busses will be carting throngs of selfie-taking tourists to other hotspots. Make hay while the sun shines.
3
Maybe time for NYT Travel to publish an annual “52 Places Not to Go”, in order to restore some sanity to a social media addicted, narcissistic, and vain world.
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@John Ramey That's a great idea.
13
I just thumbed through the pictures in this article. Cute place to live.
Greatly dislike these instagrammers. I’ve been travelling since 21, often solo. The last few years, I’ve noticed it’s increasingly difficult to visit popular sites without bumping into packs of mostly young women, often accompanied by their adoring photographers. They all take turns doing selfies, or getting photographed. They hog the views, and spend most of their time making duck faces without regard for others. I take a photo or two, then move on, even if it’s not perfect because I know many are behind me. That’s the way we all used to do it 10 years ago. Selfish travellers, and if they don’t even spend money locally, well I perfectly understand Hallstatt’s attitude.
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I had one of the best days of my life in Hallstatt in 2017. We rented a small boat during the day to avoid the crowds. By dusk, the day trippers and tour busses cleared out and we ate fresh fish and potatoes and then listened to a brass band in the town square. It’s still possible to have a lovely experience in overtouristed locations — often by staying the night.
35
Have seen several articles recently like this on the Tourist Crushing of Ancient Europe-- Venice, especially. I'm guessing Rome and Greece are similar? Looks to me like Europe is done. I'll probably be staying home.
7
Seems like an odd reason to visit a city. It’s just a movie.
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@Prudence Spencer Many people are unimaginative, I guess.
13
There are too many humans on earth, and too many humans are disrespectful and annoying. When I lived in Norway we saw very little tourism from such annoying groups, which was nice, but instagram has changed that. The photo groups and instagram tourists are the worst.
On note: When traveling to EU nations we always thought the Germans, Australians, and Americans stood out because they’re loud, arrogant, obnoxious and oblivious. That’s still true but now I see that it’s not so much nationality but wealth that creates problems. The wealthy entitled class of all nations around the world are terrible tourists — Germans, Australians, and Americans were just the largest and loudest. The wealthy class truly are universally a bunch of ill-mannered people to say the least.
31
@Misplaced Modifier Sorry to rain on your parade but as someone who runs a small business in tourist town the Chinese win the award for the most horrible thoughtless & arrogant tourist hands down, they leave the previous winners, as you say the Americans & the Australians, in the dust. Not only that but they travel with Chinese companies, stay at Chinese owned resorts and are served by imported Chinese staff so that the local economy gets nothing but their rubbish
50
Treat tourists like tourists, herd them like the cattle they are and overcharge them til they bleed green.
_BUT_
Treat travelers, those who come and stay and live for week or more like family.
31
After a recent 3 week trip through Europe hitting the “hot spots” (Venice, Amsterdam, Cinque Terre etc) and witnessing the over tourism and instagram hordes, I have sworn off visiting such places again and being part of the problem.
We were particularly saddened and felt uncomfortable being a part of the hordes invading the small villages of the Cinque Terre. I had no idea until we got there of the extent of the problem.
As for the instagrammers, I’ll never forget the disgust I felt watching people (usually young ones) using the Duomo in Florence (one of the most astonishing buildings I’ve ever seen) as a mere backdrop for a selfie.
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@Judith Lee That's sad to hear. I loved Cinque Terre when I visited about 15 years ago. It was till touristy, but not like you describe. I had always hoped to go back, but probably I won't now.
5
Harry Potter fans? Braveheart fans? Pixar’s Brave? Moana? Maybe we should investigate how these communities have faired? As for Salzburg- hello Mozart’s birthplace!
2
I was in Hallstatt in 1972. It was wonderful, I remember having a wiener schnitzel by the lake and watching a plane do acrobatics. I will never forget that day.
I went back two years ago with my wife. What a change!!! I felt sorry for the residents; the invasion of their privacy was unbelievable. Mass tourism is worse than a plague of locust.
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@A P Duncan I was there in 1981, as a weekend trip from a summer studying in Salzburg. Even on a summer Saturday, Hallstatt wasn't too crowded. There were 8 of us, but we had dinner Friday night, stayed over, went for the salt mine experience Saturday, and went back to our studies early Sunday morning. The only thing we did "as a group" was dinner the first night and the salt mine tour. None of us wanted to travel as a "pack" even then. I wish we could have stayed longer.
In 1995, I got to show my new-ish husband where I had studied and lived in Salzburg. We made it a one-very-long-day roundtrip by train while staying about 40 minutes by car outside of Munich. Yes, there were a lot of tourists in Salzburg in 1981, especially on weekends and even more during the Mozart Festival. But the absolute hordes in 1995, which made it impossible to just stroll along Getridegasse with my husband, browsing in the shops, brought tears to my eyes. I can only imagine what it is like now, and I don't think I'll ever go back to find out.
We only go to small towns off the beaten track now, which we enjoy because we get to know locals. We particularly love Gasthaus Kollar in De... (I won't even write the whole name, because I don't want to publicize it!) But it's sad to be driven out of other places that are also beautiful.
13
Here on Oahu, thirty thousand illegal Air B&B's sprouted up in residential, single family neighborhoods. The influx of hundreds of thousands of partying tourists has destroyed the tranquility and pitted neighbor against neighbor. After a decade of strife, the city council finally cracked down on the illegal operators.
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Entry fees and restrictions are ridiculous solutions. People want to see things and good for them. The solution to overcrowded destinations is to create more of them. When making city planning decisions, more thought should be given to important aspects like beauty, architecture, color, cultural preservation and easy friendly transportation options. This is also the result of corporate control of the movie industry. They want everyone to see the same 12 movies every year.
2
@Eric How does this apply to Hallstatt, a 16th century village?
12
@Eric, most European and Asian cities that suffer "tourism-ageddon" were created over 500, in some cases over 1000, years ago.
So sure, town planning should have occurred back then, just so people like you can today have your "personal" selfie space next to 100 tourists in front of "the spot".
Perhaps "pass-through tourists" should change their own behaviors, and be more respectful when visiting places. Spend more time and money when there, to build up these idyllic towns. No?
10
@Eric i cannot seem to reconcile how wrong, out of touch and frankly uninformed the first part of your comment is, with the very true and poignant insight regarding corporate culture
7
Institute an "entry fee" and limit how many people a day and only on certain days.
We travel to experience the culture, see the museums, hear the music, learn about their customs, meet the locals, experience the beauty, eat local cuisine and enjoy our adventures to enrich our lives.
I don't understand this generation of people taking selfies instead of actually traveling and experiencing. It is so empty, meaningless and narcissistic.
46
As someone who once owned a very infamous and spooky house in Long Island, I know what it's like to live in a fishbowl and deal with intrusive tourists. Then again, I knew what I was going to get. So did Austria.
4
Really? It doesn't sound like you've ever been there. One does not own a house in Long Island but on Long Island. It is entirely possible to own a home in any of the many dozens of cities, villages or towns on Long Island. My family goes back to the late 1600s on Long Island but only the 1700s in Sayville. See the difference we live in cities, towns and villages on an island
4
Is this a joke? Austria didn’t ask for Frozen... It’s not even like some of the other locations cited in the article, which presumably granted permission to film crews.
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@Mixilplix According to the article, Disney modeled this on some generic Norwegian village, so it doesn't seem that Hallstatt signed up for this at all.
13
Who - in their right mind - would want tp spend thousands of $ to stand in line like this? I would never travel to Europe in the summer months because of this. If I have an overwhelming need to stand in line, I will do so at MOMA or the Metropolitan or skip the lines and the crowds entirely at several other like places that I would never, ever reveal here!
14
Chiang Mai, Thailand has had to endure something similar after the release of the Chinese film Lost in Thailand. If the worst that Hallstat has to put up with is photo-taking tourists they should count their blessings.
2
I suggest an entry fee. A cover charge, if you will.
Tourists treat Hallstatt and innumerable other places like Disneyland, and Disneyland isn't free.
In medieval times, towns had tollgates and travellers would pay to enter.
It's time to bring that traditional custom back - not just in Hallstatt, but everywhere this inundation occurs.
The entry fees would cover the costs associated with cleaning up, distributed among residents to reduce their tax burden, and hopefully reduce visitor numbers.
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Aside from the pretty views (which you can find all over the Salzkammergut) the most interesting thing about Hallstatt is the salt mine.
10
@jimlux Absolutely! Especially the "slide"...
2
@jimlux And the most interesting things of the Hallstadt salt mine are the tools and artifacts of the bronze age salt miners found there, which are exhibited in the Vienna Museum of Natural History.
5
I visited Hallstatt with my mother in the early 80s during the off-season. We were the only tourists there, and it was gorgeous. When we stopped to watch a wedding procession, with everyone dressed in their traditional dress, we were invited to join them for their meal. A day I’ll remember forever.
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@Joyce
What a lovely experience and memory.
It seems as though the people of Hallstatt want visitors, like you, to have such experiences.
It is unfortunate that the Instagram crowds are ruining it for everyone else.
24
Who would mistake a grumpy tiny village in landlocked Austria with Arendelle, a center of commerce, culture, and pacifism on the shore of the North Sea? Arendal is literally a city in Norway with a large harbor and decent sized town center.
Love Frozen and the fans but the fans should be careful not to be fooled by unscrupulous travel agency. Make sure you are going to Norway and not some run of the mill village to see Arendelle
9
Hallstatt is not what you describe. It was the center of the salt trade in Central Europe since time immemorial.
21
@AmateurHistorian The Norwegians don't want the "Frozen" tourists, either.
18
The NYT travel section contributes to the influx of tourists to remote unknown destinations. What is the intention of this article, to encourage an even broader audience to invade the little village of Hallstatt? Your reporters open the Pandora's box of tourism to off-the-beaten path (not for long!!) destinations like this once-charming Austrian village.
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@Suzanne
To make matters worse, in the middle of the article on the Times website is an advertisement for a travel agent who will plan your trip to Hallstatt to upset this quaint village with a quick romp around and then turn around. We need less trite and trivial tourism, actually all kinds of unnecessary tourism.
15
I feel like most of the world needs parenting so here goes: if you want to go to Disneyland, that's where you should go. If you want to go to a quiet, remote, picturesque village, then you need to walk softly and respectfully for this is a home that has been carefully tended.
167
But we have been told that in the post-industrial (and impending post-information) economy that industrial tourism is the answer, especially for towns and cities outside mega-metro areas.
Of course this never seems to work out, since most tourist-amenity jobs pay little, and living costs in the latest trendy instagram spots quickly overwhelm locals. And, surprise, surprise, popularity degrades the experience for the visitors, too.
Perhaps in a world with almost 8 billion people, we cannot all go to the same dozen places each year without destroying the values that we wanted in the first place.
56
Among obnoxious tourists, those in pursuit of the perfect Instagrammable photo may be the worst.
They hog views and trample nature, trying again and again to get that flattering selfie, then post their "experience" when the only experience they had was taking the photo. Culture? What culture?
I'll no longer travel to popular destinations except in the slow season. Far better to contend with poor weather conditions than Instagrammers.
172
Precisely what my husband and I do. The weather may not be perfect, but there are no hoards of tourists. I live in Paris and avoid the downtown during the summer months.
18
@Randy my feelings exactly.
10
My husband and I traveled through Italy years before Instagram. The heat and the crowds were legendary, so we made our trip during the fall. It was a little chilly, but we had an amazing experience getting to know the residents in smaller towns like Assisi and Siena. It is a trip we will always remember.
21
The authenticity of many of Europe’s beautiful towns has been lost with “over tourism”. The cultural heritage that once made these places special has been denigrated and tourists have turned some of these sights into a Disneyland type experience. Between cruise ships, riverboats, and bus tours, the magic is no longer there.
55
@Georgia Mom I disagree that the magic "is no longer there." There's still plenty of magic for those who avoid the salmon run of booked-excursions and choose to travel more slowly. Halstatt, Dubrovnik, Murren, Bled, Venice, and other instagram hotspots are amazing places to explore in the evenings when the buses and ships and trams have all gone.
11
@Georgia Mom It's not just Europe; it's everywhere. Tourists are only interested in a selfie and to say they've been there. They see and experience nothing.
17
I had no idea “Frozen” was driving the craze. Hallstatt is also home to the earliest Celtic culture (along with La Tene), and we had the glorious museum there to ourselves when we visited two years ago.
35
I spent a half year backpacking overseas and Hallstatt was a place I stayed during winter for weeks. Wonderful!!
20
I don't understand this selfie craze. The beauty is in the villages, the beaches, the desert terrain etc. We visited Hallstatt during Christmas time when we were staying in Salzburg years ago. It is a lovely town on a picturesque lake but the whole reason to go to Austria is to ski, see the architecture, visit the museums, attend concerts and opera and eat the wonderful food.
Amusing to see the ad for touring Austria with the Hallstatt picture accompanying the article.
52
@Susan in NH
Selfies, social media, "likes" etc have fostered an over growth of the narcissism weed in our cultural garden.
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@Susan in NH
The selfie fad will fade away in time. In the not distant future, Wikipedia will be featuring articles about the millions of fools who have risked so much to gain so little.
8
I have yet to take a selfie. Never have, even with family. I ask someone else to take the photo.
10
I’ve lived outside Amsterdam for six years now and we have the same problem here: an extreme influx in tourists who spend next to nothing, costing the city money! And usually they act a bit out of control (UK tourists especially!!). So even in big cities outside of picturesque Austria, there is a major issue with the tourism boom. If tourists don’t bring new funds into the area but actually cost public funds, it must be dealt with...Minimum stays, new taxes, and efforts to get tourists to other great nearby locations may be the only way to ease things up.
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Dido Utrecht. they're actively trying to shed tourists from Amsterdam here. So busy.
22
@JM I've never been to Amsterdam but my daughter traveled there with her school last year and they were indeed charged a tourist tax by their hostel. I'm all for it. People need to be more mindful of the impact their travel has — from start to finish.
14