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Shkruar nga Katie Gatens
Movements against tourism in Europe also have a flavor of populism, reflecting frustrations over the cost of living and especially housing. Young Europeans are unhappy that their continent is turning into a giant museum.
"I've lived here for 26 years, and it seems to me that this place has somehow lost its charm" - says Alexis Heuser, pointing with his hands to the most beautiful waterfall I've ever seen. It's a blisteringly hot July morning in Lauterbrunnen, a Swiss village overlooking the Bernese Alps, where glacier tracks lead across fields filled with cows grazing and clucking their hooves.
For many centuries, the beauty of Lauterbrunnen has inspired famous writers such as Shelley and Bron and in 1911 the young mountaineer John Tolkien, who later placed the mythical city of Rivendell in this valley in his famous saga "The Lord of the Rings". But now this idyllic place is under threat.
Lauterbrunnen is on the brink of being overwhelmed by mass tourism, and TikTok is to blame, not Tolkien. Along the valley's crowded paths, dozens of them have raised their selfie sticks as if they are going into battle, as long lines of visitors wind in front of the falls.
A drone buzzes high in the sky. Over the past 2 years, it has become "overcrowded and over-commercialized," says Heuser. The company he works for, Air-Glaciers, offers helicopter tours of the valley. "Of course, business is going very well" - she says while we see the buses walking slowly along the very narrow road.
"What about the quality of life of the locals? They are starting to play mind games. Now there are street vendors selling sausages coated in cornmeal, an American specialty," she adds. This is a story known throughout Europe. Tourists, many of them Americans using the almighty dollar, are arriving on the continent in staggering numbers.
There are 65 percent more American visitors to the EU today than 10 years ago. But it's not just the Americans. As an affluent middle class emerges in China, India and Brazil, more of these people are on the move. Last year, there were 709 million visitors from overseas, a 22 percent increase from a decade ago.
As the share of global wealth shifts from Europe to China, India and the Gulf, the lure of beaches, museums, churches, designer shops and European cultural heritage, relics of nations that once ruled much of the planet, is becoming irresistible.
Especially after the end of the Covid-19 pandemic. The allure of Europe seems to be growing, even as its economic fortunes and geopolitical weight are declining. Mallorca is expected to break the record for the number of tourists for the third consecutive year. In 2022, the island had 17 million visitors. This year, 20 million are expected, or about 22 times its population.
A backlash against mass tourism has been noticed for several years. Venice has taken measures to ban cruise ships, and this year introduced an entrance fee of €5 per visitor on the busiest days. In the spring of this year, Amsterdam announced a "complete ban" on mass tourism until 2035.
That means “no cruise ships, no new hotels, and no more than 20 million visitors at a time. There are similar movements against mass tourism in Athens, Lisbon, Venice and most of Spain, including Barcelona, Mallorca and Tenerife.
But what is driving this movement? "If we look back, as far back as the 19th century, the English philosopher Ruskin lamented the speed with which the Alps were being invaded by tourists," says Lucy Lethbridge, author of the book "Tourists: How the British Went Abroad to Find Themselves." .
"In the 1820s, the Alps were still a wild place, and many travelers risked their lives. But in the 1850s, they had become a new winter sports destination," she emphasizes. Britons have been traveling abroad for leisure since the time of the Grand Tour, when Victorian-era lords embarked on cultural journeys across Western Europe.
But it was Thomas Cook who created the first package tour in the 1870s, taking small groups of tourists to France, Germany and Italy. Inevitably, it engendered a snobbery among the leisure classes towards fellow "Britishers abroad" that persists to this day.
The real game changer was the advent of cheap air travel. The EasyJet revolution, which has opened Europe to all types of vacations, is turning 30 years old. In 1955, a round trip ticket from New York to London on Trans World Airlines cost 222 pounds, or 2,561 pounds at today's exchange rate.
Now the same journey costs around £390. And accommodation is often more flexible and affordable because of the Airbnb platform. Another driver is social media. Thanks to the all-inclusiveness of Instagram and TikTok, many more people are visiting the same places, eager to eat at the same restaurants or take photos at the same waterfall.
We return to Lauterbrunnen. At the peak of the season, the village's population of 2,400 rises to 6,000. It's not Venice levels, but the difficulties are still felt. The streets have no sidewalks, forcing people to walk in the middle of traffic. In front of houses, signs warn "Stay out!" and "Don't take pictures!".
Last month, some residents considered imposing a "daily tourist tax". Walking through the countryside, I encounter a group of 20-something backpackers on a 6-week trip from California: Lauren, Mira, and Micah. "About a year ago we sent each other videos on TikTok about how beautiful the Alps are," says Micah.
Then the girls will visit Paris, Vienna and Prague. "Many of our friends have already done this tour" - says Mira. As temperatures in southern Europe regularly exceed 40 degrees Celsius in summer, the alpine valleys of Switzerland and Austria are becoming more popular. In Hallstatt, Austria, a town so beautiful that China has built a replica of it, residents last year blocked the main tunnel leading into the town. But there are also different approaches. Tom Durrer is the resort manager of Lauterbrunnen, and grew up in the village. He has 105,000 followers on Instagram and posts beautiful videos and photos on the Lauterbrunnen Tourism page, which has almost 300,000 followers. Last year, the village had a record number of overnight stays: 330,000.
When his Instagram page grew a few years ago, Durrer says, “I wasn't surprised. Our valley is very photogenic". He denies that Lauterbrunnen has a problem with over-tourism. "In the peak of the season it's a bit crowded, but I prefer that to the times of the coronavirus, when everything was empty. At that time, residents had to get loans to survive," he says.
Movements against tourism in Europe also have a flavor of populism, reflecting frustrations over the cost of living and especially housing. Young Europeans are unhappy that their continent is turning into a giant museum. The "Mallorcan Less Tourism" movement is modeled after a similar movement in the Canary Islands.
Pere Joan, a 25-year-old student from Mallorca, says the group has stepped up its protests this summer because "the situation is no longer sustainable." Joan is involved in demonstrations to "occupy the beaches". He says tourists are surprised when activists go to the beach and unfurl banners.
"We try to talk to them, explain to them why we are doing these things. It's not that we have problems with the tourists themselves, but with the model of tourism in the Balearic Islands" - he says.
Although Mallorca lives on tourism, Joan says that wealth is distributed unevenly, and most residents are not benefiting from it. /Adapted "Pamphlet", taken from "The Sunday Times"
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