Anti tourism protests appear to be spreading and have now reached overcrowded ski resorts after graffiti appeared in an Italian beauty spot.
Skiers heading up to the slopes on cable cars at Alpe di Siusi in the Dolomites this week were surprised to find the phrase “too much” sprayed in letters on the snow beneath them.
The large red slogan, which was deliberately placed under a ski lift, appears to be the latest move made by angry locals who have been growing increasingly impatient over the masses of tourists hitting the slopes during the peak winter season.
Brigitte Foppa, councillor of the European Greens party, said tourism in the winter wonderland has been “underestimated for years” and there has been “continuous growth”, making life impossible for residents.
“You can’t find affordable housing, the roads and parking areas are overflowing and the smog is suffocating,” she told La Repubblica.
“Now we are paying the price, the wound in society has opened.”
Last year the Dolomiti Superski region, which comprises 1,200 skiable kilometres spread over 12 resorts, saw first admissions increase by 5% compared to 2023. In total there were four million visitors last winter, up from 3.2 million in 2009.
This is not the first time frustrated locals have taken action and protested against the increasing number of tourists in the area.
Over the summer, locals painted a preferential lane with the word ‘priority’ in the nearby city of Bolzano to create an impromptu priority queue for themselves after commuters raised concerns that the hordes of tourists had clogged up access to cable cars, causing them delays.
Last year Antonio Montani, the head of Club Alpino Italiano, a hiking association, said the Dolomites should be taken off Unesco’s list to lower the mountain range’s profile.
A spokesman for Dolomiti Superski played down the graffiti, saying it was not the work of locals but of residents in cities such as Bolzano who “want the Dolomites to themselves”. He said: “People who live and work here do not complain.”
This comes after after Roccaraso in the Apennine mountains, another ski station, was swarmed with thousands of tourists who descended at the same time thanks to bargain day-trip deals online.
As one of Italy’s biggest ski resorts Roccaraso is used to being a popular ski destination, however, the area was thrown into a panic after some 10,000 tourists arrived in 260 buses last month.
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