Overtourism is putting a strain on the Italian Alps. Some locals in Italy are taking drastic measures to get their message across.
Trento – Italy has been implementing various measures to counteract overtourism for some time. Many locals support these regulations. In the Alps they now seem to have become active themselves.
“Tourists go home”: Unidentified people spray graffiti on Alpine rock faces in Italy
They make their mark in the mountains. The rock faces of the Dolomites, near the Rifugio Capanna Piz Fassa refuge on the summit of the Piz Boè in the Sella Group, were sprayed with graffiti by unknown persons. The sentences “Stop Overtourism” and “Tourists go home” were written in capital letters on the rock, a growing phenomenon. For the association of hut owners in Trentino, this is absurd.
On Facebook writes the association: “These days it would be nice to be able to go to the mountains on an ordinary Monday without having to be confronted with situations like this.” The graffiti was discovered by mountain rescuer Koris Sommavilla during the climb to the 3,152 meter high Piz Boè.
Italian mountain rescuer rages over graffiti message in the Alps: “Would never allow me to sully it”
Sommavilla also commented himself in a Facebook post. He writes: “Regardless of the content, some of which I can certainly understand, as a lover of the mountains I would never allow myself to sully them.” The action was also met with outrage on social media. “I would report her to the police,” one user commented on Facebook. Another described the action as “uncivilized.” The association suspects a connection with a similar incident that occurred a few days ago. Unknown people had left the same message on a boulder at the famous Three Peaks in the Dolomites.
The locals want to use their graffiti to draw attention to a serious problem. While condemning the graffiti, one Facebook user is aware that overtourism is a problem that “must be taken very seriously because it is perceived as an invasion by the host populations and experienced as a negative experience by the tourists. Overtourism means that the places that suffer from it lose their attractiveness.”
Italy’s Alps suffer from overtourism: overcrowded parking lots, queues on the mountain, congested streets
The burden of mass tourism does not stop at the Italian Alps. Overcrowded parking lots, long queues at cable cars and via ferratas are the order of the day, especially in high season. The hotel and restaurant associations in Italy are also annoyed by the clogged pass roads.
In many places the load limits have already been exceeded. “Road traffic, drinking water supply, housing prices and the patience of the locals have limits, and South Tyrol’s tourism industry has exhausted these limits,” says Josef Oberhofer, chairman of the umbrella association for nature and environmental protection in South Tyrol.
Mountain rescuer complains about Alpine graffiti: “Absolutely disrespectful to the mountain”
For mountain rescuer Sommavilla, however, the graffiti campaign is not the right way to protest against mass tourism. “Make your point clear in a different way,” he urges. The graffiti was “absolutely disrespectful to the mountain. If you really love him, you have to respect him.” Thousands of people are also protesting against mass tourism on the holiday island of Mallorca. (kas/moe)
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