ABSTRACT
The romantic village of Hallstatt, situated on the shores of Lake Hallstatt in the Salzkammergut region, is extremely well suited for a case study on the subject of overtourism in Austria. Declared a World Heritage Site in 1997, it has become a major tourist attraction. However, this idyllic scene is deceptive. With an exponential increase in day visitors, the village of just under 800 inhabitants currently has to cope with up to 10,000 tourists a day from all over the world. Excluding the pandemic period, over one million guests visit Hallstatt every year. The narrow, romantic alleys soon become terribly crowded. Apart from taking photographs, the visitors also fly drones over the properties, make a corresponding amount of noise, and leave behind piles of waste.
