Selfie Apocalypse in action: how Asian tourists became a disaster for the Austrian town of Hallstatt

Many cities around the world live off tourism and their residents go out of their way to attract as many guests as possible. Therefore, the fact that somewhere they can sincerely hate tourists and look for ways to get rid of them may seem implausible. But there are such places on the planet and the most famous of them is the tiny old town of Hallstatt, located in the Austrian Alps.

Austrian Hallstatt, which has a population of only 780 people, is officially recognized as the "most instagrammable city in the world." Every day this town is visited by up to 10 thousand tourists, most of whom come from the Asian region.

Drones are constantly buzzing over the city, and its narrow streets are filled with crowds of visitors posing for selfies and wedding photos. They crowd on the embankment of Lake Hallstetter, feed the swans, litter, make noise and consume tons of food and drinks.

Guests often behave unceremoniously — they climb into the courtyards of Hallstatt residents, break into their houses to go to the toilet, unscrew and tear off everything that can be taken as a souvenir. The owner of one of the cafes told about the behavior of tourists who simply harass the townspeople:

The mayor of the city, Alexander Shoits, appeals to the prudence of tourists and asks them to refrain from visiting the picturesque town, but they do not hear him. It got to the point that the mayor's office began to block the entrances to the city, but annoying guests abandon buses and cars at the entrance to Hallstatt and go to the city on foot.

Interestingly, until the middle of the XIX century, the town was one of the most isolated settlements in Europe. It was possible to get here only by a dangerous mountain trail or by boat on the lake in good weather. Even after the construction of the highway and the recognition of Hallstatt as a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 1997, little has changed and tourists were rare guests in this remote corner of the Alps.

"Something needs to be done about it," the administration of the town decided, and in 2006 a stand dedicated to the ancient town lost in the mountains appeared at the South Korean tourism forum in Seoul. It was the beginning of a tourist triumph that eventually took the form of a disaster. The head of the city told reporters about the priorities of the development of the tourist center in the near future:

But this is not so easy to do. After the release of the animated film "Cold Heart", the popularity of the community grew significantly, as Hallstatt became the prototype of the fabulous city of Arendelle.

Despite its modest size, there is something to see in the town. What is worth only the ancient crypt of the Beinhaus, in which the skulls of the townspeople are displayed. Now the number of tourists here per capita is 6 times more than in Venice and guests are willing to pay hotels 300-400 dollars per night.