A beautiful village in the heart of Switzerland is considering implementing a tourist tax to curb unwanted visitors as people flock to see its iconic scenery.
Lauterbrunnen in the Swiss Alps is a small village of only 2,400 people, and it becomes overrun with tourists desperate to see its famous views.
Locals have to battle with congested streets, car parks, and public transport, as well as rubbish-strewn roads and soaring rent prices.
Some have even described feeling like tourists in their own town, unable to leave their houses without being swarmed by tourists. Priest Markus Tschanz told Swiss radio station SRF: “We feel like employees in an amusement park.”
Jürg Stettler, head of the Institute of Tourism at Lucerne University of Applied Sciences and Arts, said the stunning Satubbach Falls is attracting masses of visitors looking to get great pictures of the scenery for social media.
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He told SwissInfo: “Lauterbrunnen definitely has an over-tourism problem. But it’s not a result of their success but of their interesting Instagrammable waterfall [Staubbach Falls]. Now on top of this, you have this ‘waterfall-scenery-picture-taking’ tourism.”
This has prompted authorities to deliberate whether or not to charge visitors between five and 10 Swiss francs (£4.30-£8.60) via an app on their phones to make day trips into the village.
Similarly to the scheme adopted in Venice, which charges day trippers five euros, the Swiss fee would not apply to those staying for at least one night. The other exceptions are those who have booked tours in Lauterbrunnen and those who take public transport.
Fabian Weber, a tourism researcher at Lucerne University of Applied Sciences and Arts, explained the difficulties of putting such a fee into practice as it’s not something Lauterbrunnen has ever done before.
He also told the outlet: “It’s very challenging to implement such an entry fee in a public space such as a village or valley. We don’t have much experience and we don’t know if it works.
“My assumption is that it would probably not have a huge impact on the numbers of tourists, but at least it could raise money that could be invested in measures to better manage visitor flows or capacities, or compensate for damages.
“Most tourism fees up to now don’t really curb the numbers. But they give some leeway when it comes to managing tourism development.”
Mayor Karl Näpflin explained that random checks would be carried out to ensure people have paid the fee – but this is something that will take time, and won’t be ready for the summer influx of tourists.
