Dubrovnik, Croatia.

 

Michael Reiter, Correspondent: I’ve never been to Dubrovnik before and yet it seems incredibly familiar. And that is probably due to the fact that the city has set scenery for a Star Wars film, a new Robin Hood film and not least the popular series Game of Thrones.

 

Dubrovnik in Croatia. It is one of the most popular Mediterranean destinations. And with the TV series Game of Thrones’ huge success, even more tourists are coming. I have rented an apartment where one of the most iconic scenes in the series is shot.

 

Reiter: This is the steps from ‘Walk of Shame’. We are in the middle of Kings Landing.

 

Gerry: So this would be the same shot Cersei would take on her way down.

 

Places with something special to offer are experiencing a true explosion in the number of visitors. In 1950, there were 25 million tourists worldwide. Today there are 1,4 billion. It gives revenue and makes some rich. While others curse the tourists far away.

 

(Norsk mand): It’s no problem with one, ten or hundred – but we can have up to 1,000 a day.

 

 

DUBROVNIK, CROATIA

 

The phenomenon has become enormous; people who is on holiday where their favourite movies and series are shot.

 

Jenny Allsopp: Do you want a selfie? Gerry: A selfie?

 

Garry and Jenny from Leeds in England are what are called “Set Jetters”.

 

Jenny: It’s amazing to see like this “Walk of Shame” … Just to see the locations, the views. To see them in real life.

 

Gerry: So you’re getting whipped saying ‘shame, shame’.

 

Gerry: It’s an amazing wild Medieval city, it’s a brilliant location for GOT and King’s Landing. I know a lot was computer generated, but there’s a lot of places around here where there’s actual scenes.

 

Guide: And we will stop here again but I will just kindly ask you to be in only one side of the bridge. I will tell you what these landmarks are.

 

1,500 lives in Dubrovnik’s Old Town – listed on the UNESCO World Heritage List. Last year, 1,3 million tourists made their way through the district.

 

Tourist: House of undying.

 

Guide: House of undying exactly. But do you know the location? Up there! You’ve done your homework.

 

Gerry: Everybody likes it. It’s probably one of the all-time greatest shows ever made.

 

Jenny: Massive in UK…

 

Gerry: It’s my passion!

 

Jenny: He’s obsessed! A passion! He knows every character, everything that’s going on, cos I ask and he know everything that’s going on.

 

I am a fan of the series myself – and I must admit it is cool to be in the middle of King’s Landing. But the city is too crowded.

 

Jenny: Here’s so packed.

 

Gerry: It’s all due to Game of Thrones.

 

Throughout the world, the debate is raging – local demonstrates in Venice fear the city’s survival. In Thailand, they have now closed a beach where tourists simply ruined nature. And this is pictures taken by autonomous in Barcelona, who cut up the tires on a tourist bus in 2017, while others are demonstrating against the tourists in Mallorca.

 

 

HALLSTATT, AUSTRIA

 

In Austria, the tourist season gather speed. I’m on my way to Hallstatt …

 

Guide: Good afternoon, my dear guests.

 

… a village in the Alps which in short time has become one of Austria’s hottest tourist attractions.

 

Guide: Hallstatt stands for a beautiful landscape.

 

Reiter: There are just under 800 people living in Hallstatt. Every year, more than one million tourists visit. Not least Asian people flock to the village. And now we are here with the next group of tourists.

 

Huey and Ling from Singapore are sisters – on a one-month vacation in Europe. They document their journey with their phones as they share on social media. The visit to Hallstatt is at the top of their list.

 

Huey: I just wanted to see the beautiful scenery. I saw it on the internet, they have those photos of the four seasons. And I just wanted to witness it with my own eyes.

SB, Alexander Scheutz: He cannot drive in there, unless he is a citizen in Hallstatt.

 

One man tries to handle the crowds of tourists in Hallstatt: Mayor Alexander Scheutz.

 

SB, Alexander Scheutz: Stop stop. Please.

 

SB, Alexander Scheutz: He cannot drive in there, unless he is a citizen in Hallstatt. And they try to do it.

 

Few years ago, his city was dying.

 

Alexander Scheutz: We are lucky that no local came. They would have honked again and would have been angry again.

 

Alexander Scheutz: There was a high level of emigration, the young people moved away and that has changed now.

 

Modern tourism as we know it today really took off in the 1960s, when Europe’s middleclass got money and time to travel on charter holiday.

 

Archive: Almost every 20 Dane wants to travel on charter holiday this year. Interviewer: Do you want it to be a cheap trip? Woman: As cheap as possible. Interviewer: And you can get that? Woman: Well, if you’re lucky.

 

Man: This was a cancellation. It was cheap. I’ve brought it an hour ago. Interviewer: What did you pay for it? Man: 145 DKK.

 

But what once was luxury is today every day for many. The number of tourists is exploded, and this is due to, among other things, cheap flights. In the last ten years alone, the number of airline passengers in the world has doubled – to more than 4,3 billion a year.

 

And now it is not only the middle class in Europe who travels. Now, people from Asia are also coming in large numbers.

 

For Huey and Ling – for the most tourists here – the journey has one purpose: to shoot as many selfies as possible in front of Hallstatt’s Alpine panorama.

 

SB, Lin: We need to find a good picture to share.

SB, Huey: I’m not pretty enough on this one.

 

Instagram tourism is a fast-growing phenomenon: As many as 40 percent of young tourists say in studies that they choose destinations based on whether they have the right Instagram motives.

 

SB, Huey: Isn’t it the same?

SB, Lin: I can’t remember.

Huey: I will just pick a few photos to put on Instagram.

 

SB, Huey: It need to be good.

 

Huey: I put it in a private account, so that only my close friends can see all the photos, I posted.

 

Huey: I think it’s kind of sharing. It’s not to show off. Just sharing. When my parents start to ask, where is it, I’ll just tell them, and they can experience it themselves as well.

 

SB, Huey: This is a great spot.

 

In China, they are so fond of Hallstatt that they have built “Hashistate” – a copy of the Austrian village. In South Korea, Hallstatt forms the setting of a television show. And in many places in Asia, pictures of Hallstatt pop up – on posters, calendars and Google.

 

SB, Huey: How is it to live here?

 

Huey: My friends, they said, you must visit Austria, because it’s really beautiful. So, when I searched Austria, these pictures came up on the internet. And I saw, the name is Hallstatt.

 

STAVANGER - NORWEGIAN

 

SB, Åsbjørg: I didn’t finish making it ready before you came.

 

Åsbjørg Self has Stavanger’s best view, she says herself. Or that is – she has it until 8 am every morning.

 

Åsbjørg: There we have the city and the fjords. We can see the snow on the mountains from here. When I do not look at these apartment blocks located here, we have a fantastic view.

 

Åsbjørg: During summer there will be 250 cruises here. Yes, it’s turning around.

 

In Stavanger, the cruise ships can dock in the center of the city. And that equals more money in the harbor box.

 

Åsbjørg: It’s what is attractive for the tourists. Not for us. I once said we sometimes felt that we were choking, and I mean that. It’s too much now. It ruins it for the tourist too; they must have something to do here. When there are so many in line, it’s not fun for them either.

 

Åsbjørg is a retired hairdresser. But today, she uses all her energy in her garden – not one blade of grass is turning the wrong way.

 

SB, Åsbjørg: I think it’s beautiful. It is … quiet!

 

She and her husband bought the house 18 years ago and since then it’s only gone one way.

 

Åsbjørg: Back then it didn’t matter. But over the last 17 years it has only increased and increased.

 

SB, Åsbjørg: Ah! I found something.

 

Åsbjørg: A tourist once said if we earned 1 krone for each photo taken, we would have been rich.

 

This year, around 350,000 tourists will come with cruise ships to Stavanger. And the city if fond of revenue – even though cruise tourists spend less money then other tourists. They have everything they need on the cruise.

 

Åsbjørg: It’s not the little shops that need the tourists, or the small restaurants; they don’t earn anything on the cruise tourists. It is the harbor system, the boat trips, the bus companies and the guide companies.

 

Peter Keen, tourist from England: These people all day now have their view blocked. I don’t know how many other cruise ships are coming daily. Journalist: 250 a year Peter: oh, really?

 

Claire Bastable, tourist from Wales: it must be weird for them, all taking pictures of their houses.

 

Sain Bishop: But it is what you expect when you live in a cruise ship town. That’s why we don’t live in one.

 

Åsbjørg: At one time it has to stop. And that’s now.

 

 

DUBROVNIK, CROATIA

 

Ana: Welcome to Karaka. It will take us approximately 45 minutes to reach King’s Landing.

 

Garry: It’s beautiful huh? So, the night is dark and full of terrors.

Jenny: Show me the picture!

 

Ana: People are happy and because you know that what you gave them wasn’t just empty story, it was a good story! It was honest story!

 

Reiter: Aren’t you helping turning Dubrovnik in to some sort of Disneyland?

 

Ana: Well, that’s what we are trying to avoid… Dubrovnik is becoming Disneyland-ish regardless of the Game of Thrones.

 

SB, Ana: So, you’ve the opportunity to sail on a ship that Daenerys Targaryen used to cross the narrow sea. And that was filmed on the front deck of our Karaka.

 

Ana: Turism itself changed in Dubrovnik, in Croatia actually, on our entire coast. Until the homeland war people were renting their apartments and they had guests that was coming to their places for ten years in a row ...

 

SB, Ana: See that beach across? This is where the royal family wished farewell to Myrcella. You can have both in frame.

 

(Scene from GoT)

 

Ana: People are not visiting the same locations for ten years in a row. Because I believe the travelling became more affordable, and now you have opportunity for even less money to visit places far away.

 

Tourism has changed the city completely – every fourth of the locals has left the city for the past eight years.

 

Bozo Fistanic: Now I live outside the old town because I find the old town a little bit too crowded especially during summer months. You hardly can walk, and you can’t park, shopping is limited and such a thing.

 

Bozo Fistanic owns the apartment I live in. He earns a lot of money on mass tourism – he has bought 20 apartments in the old town he is renting out.

 

Bozo Fistanic: When I was a boy, we used to play ball in the streets and local grandmothers used to dry clothes on the robes and such things that you hardly see anymore, so there are less and less inhabitants because it too expensive.

 

Ana: Dubrovnik needs to keep Dubrovnik’s identity. It shouldn’t be misplaced with King’s Landing. But King’s Landing was filmed in Dubrovnik, so you cannot avoid King’s Landing in Dubrovnik.

 

 

HALLSTATT, NORWAY

 

Today, Hallstatt earns money every time a tourist parks his or her rented car, check in at a hotel or use the public toilet. And the local business owner earns a lot of the tourism. Johannes Janu for example.

 

Johannes Janu: I am a craftsman. I went to school in Hallstatt. I’m a woodturner. Woodturning was actually told to be dead. The production is now very large in the industrial area.

 

But then the tourists came. And they love his wooden figures and industrial design.

 

Johannes Janu: I can now build a house on a ground I bought 15 years ago. And it would have been completely unimaginable with an income as a simple craftsman and retail owner to build and repair a house with 180 square meters alone. 

 

Reiter: Mr. Zimmermann. This is from Danish Television. We are reporting from here.

 

Jörg Zimmermann has lived in Hallstatt all his life. Now, he considers moving – because of all the noise from the tourists.

 

Jörg Zimmermann: We fell that even if we have closed windows, double windows, that when we sit inside it is also loud. Or sitting on the terrace, it is just uncomfortably loud. We try to stand the noise, but we have considered getting psychological help because the noise grate on our nerves.

 

Reiter: What does this mean?

 

Jörg Zimmermann: No drone zone. One day when we sat at the table, a drone was only one meter from the window. Someone flew with a drone and filmed our private life. We have a glass roof in the bedroom and all of a sudden there was a drone flying over.

 

Alexander Scheutz: There is a gap between those who benefit enormously and those who do not think they profit at all. And that has opened up, of course. And that’s a dangerous situation for a place that needs to live together.

 

 

FLÅM, NORWAY

 

Far from Austria’s alps – back in Norway – we meet Anders Fretheim. A local farmer and tourism activist here in the small town of Flåm.

 

SB, Anders: Are you coming here? You’re thin.

 

Anders: There have been people here since the black death and as far back as we have written sources. We sell pregnant heifers. When they are 18 months old, we sell them.

 

SB, Anders: It’s a fine morning. You’re beautiful too. If you believe in reincarnation, then wish to be reborn as a cow here.

 

He made his mark in the local area in 2014 when he set up a series of giant signs – in protest against the cruise ships, which annually bring 270,000 tourists to the city.

 

Anders: So, I just hung it up on the suspension bridge. “No cruise ships. Save the salmon”. But it was dangerous to the traffic, so I got a ticket. And then the municipality took down the sign. Then you begin to think of Putin and that kind of people. Maybe it’s not that much better here.

 

Anders: We have a lot more tourists than Venice and Barcelona. It’s “people pollution” and it’s not good. It’s not good the guests and it’s not good for those who live here. It’s mass tourism.

 

And Anders has allies in the fight against the cruise ships. Last year the world media brought the picture here – by a local politician in the small town of Olden – his small, private protests went around the world.

 

Anders: This was the third sign. It says, “No cruise shit!” The boats couldn’t live with that, so I got a ticket. I was told to remove it and they made up a lot of things. They read everything that was about building law and paragraphs.

 

But while the municipality is doing well, the environment pays the price. Studies show that a cruise ship emits about as many particles a day as Copenhagen’s total car traffic – about 500,00 cars. And the ships emit two to three times more CO2 than aircraft measures per unit kilometers a passenger is transported. Today, it is one of the very large cruise ships that moors.

 

Anders: If you have just a little thought for the environment then it is not good. It’s the worst way you can travel. It is a whole society coming in here. There are 4347 people on board. If it had only been westerners, then it is all good. But now the Chinese, the Indians and the Indonesians also come. From countries, who are very populous. The planet does not have enough resources. We must use 3,5 globes if we continue like this, and we can’t do that of course.

 

Anders owns four small cabins for hire. Every fourth tourist here in Flåm comes with the cruise ships. And Anders fears that the ships are scaring away the guests who come for long time and spend more money.

 

Anders: I build them in the beginning of the 90s. I’ve had them for around 25 years. This is Norway. This is what people buy, that’s the product. Nothing else.

 

SB, Anders: It seems like it will be good. It’s going to be … is it the same quality? It’s good with silicone, so you avoid fouling.

 

Anders: I am subject to Norwegian rules for taxes and duties. I pay employer tax and taxes on everything. They pay nothing. After all, they are registered in tax havens across the world.

 

DUBROVNIK, CROATIA

 

Reiter: What kind of Game of Thrones cocktails do you have?

Waiter: So, we do have a Jon Snow. It’s quite yummy, I definitely suggest that one.

 

Reiter: I’ll try that one then.

 

When in Dubrovnik, one can of course also find a bar with the Game of Thrones theme.  

Reiter: I’ve just got a Jon Snow.

 

Jenny: What is that? A Jon Snow?

 

And the theme cocktail is naturally served with an episode of the hit series.

 

Garry: Most of my friends call me a Game of Thrones geek.

 

Reiter: My wife is going to be really angry that I’m watching the series with you and not with her.

 

There is nothing to suggest that mass tourism is topped yet – here in Dubrovnik or in the rest of the world. It is today a gigantic global industry in fierce growth.

 

Garry: If you respect the laws and you respectful the buildings and you don’t cause any damage, I don’t see the problem. You just got to be respectful.

 

SB, Garry: Poor Jon Snow.

 

Garry: I’d like to go to Morocco, I’d like to go the locations in Spain, Northern Ireland as well, that’s all depending on money and working for it.

 

So, in the end it is probably just up to the individual to decide where the trip goes next – or whether to stay home.

 

Garry: As long as I enjoy it, I’ll keep doing it.