Infrastructure at the limit Grindelwald stops hotel project - municipality puts the brakes on tourism

The municipality of Grindelwald BE stops a planned hotel project with 200 beds in order to relieve the overloaded infrastructure. Tourism is to be controlled, as roads, water and waste management are reaching their limits.

Grindelwald BE attracts many tourists - partly because of the Jungfraujoch. However, the municipality now wants to slow down the influx of visitors. A hotel project with around 200 beds will therefore not be realized, as reported by SRF. The investors withdrew their plans after the municipal authorities made it clear that they would not support the project.

The reason: Mayor Beat Bucher explains that the existing infrastructure is constantly reaching its limits. Grindelwald is concerned that even more guests would place an additional burden on the roads, water supply and waste management.

"We have decided to await the further progress of important, already advanced projects in the area - in particular those around the Hotel Regina and the renewal of the Firstbahn," writes Baulin AG in response to an inquiry from SRF. They support the hotel project.

However, they have not ruled out reassessing the project at a later date. The aforementioned Hotel Regina is a conversion project in the village center. The plan is to create up to 800 beds there - however, objections are still pending.

"It is rather unusual to limit the number of hotel beds"

Tourism expert Jürg Stettler is surprised by this: "It is rather unusual to limit the number of tourists by means of hotel beds," he tells SRF. Normally, people try to intervene with day guests, but this is probably difficult or even impossible in Grindelwald.

However, he is not surprised that the municipality is trying to curb the crowds. "The hotspots are coming under increasing pressure. Now Grindelwald is one more destination that is trying to get a grip on the flow of visitors," Stettler continues.

The mood among the population seems clear: there should be no more tourism for the time being. A new development plan would have been necessary for the now halted project - but approval at the municipal assembly would hardly have been expected.

More and more mass tourism in the mountains

Mountain regions are constantly complaining about mass tourism. In summer, for example, the Alpenstein region became the focus of attention, with people splashing around, camping and partying where once there was silence and rare plants. The Fählenalp, secluded at the far end of Lake Fählen, became a hotspot for foreign tent tourists.

Alpine farmer Sepp Inauen, who has been making cheese with his wife Silvia for ten years and enjoys the peace and quiet on the Fählenalp, sounded the alarm: "It's getting more and more extreme," he told the "Appenzeller Zeitung" newspaper.

On June 19, there were 22 tents and around 50 people at the lake - in the middle of the sensitive Alpstein nature. The tents belonged to a group from the Netherlands, a Christian organization according to Inauen. The guests stayed for four days - despite the lack of a legal basis.

As the crowds grew, Inauen now charges 12 francs per person per night. The reason: garbage, fireplaces, gas stoves - and guests who want to buy firewood from him to make cheese. "I don't do any advertising. And yet they come from everywhere with their throw tents."