Titlis feels threatened by Lucerne's overtourism
For the first time, the Engelberg-Trübsee-Titlis (BET) mountain railways are including the concept of «overtourism» in their risk assessment. This is reported by the *Handelszeitung* in its latest issue.
In addition to the danger of glacier shrinkage, the Board of Directors "assesses the issue of overtourism and its effects as a new risk", according to the current annual report.
BET Managing Director Norbert Patt says: "You can't look at the problem of overtourism in isolation, it's a supra-regional issue. If Lucerne has a problem, then we have one too." The Titlis head of tourism receives encouragement from Philipp Lütolf, professor of economics at Lucerne University of Applied Sciences and Arts and mountain railroad specialist: "Overtourism is already causing a lot of discussion in Lucerne, the center of Central Switzerland," says Lütolf. "If this escalates into a real culture of unwelcoming tourists, it could lead to tourist flows being diverted away from Lucerne and towards Interlaken, for example. An excursion mountain like the Titlis would also suffer as a result."
Although no guest quotas or price increases are planned on the Titlis, says Patt, they are working on "better distributing the number of guests throughout the year". The aim is to reduce the risk of public opinion boiling over.
