Question: what do Venice, Barcelona, Amsterdam and San Sebastián – and now Blåvand in Denmark – have in common? Answer: they all feel that the number of tourists has got out of hand.
In winter, there are around 500 people living in Blåvand on the west coast of Jutland. In summer the number swells to a massive 50,000 and local people have had enough, reports BT.
“Blåvand just can’t cope with more tourists. There is simply no space for more summerhouses because we have the North Sea on one side and a military area on the other,” Mariane Nygaard Holm, a member of the local residents’ association, told Politiken.
Quality, not quantity
“In future, we ought to prioritise quality instead of quantity. The town is full of discount shops and the municipality would like to cram in as many tourists as possible because that is money in the coffers,” added Holm.
The opening of the Tirpitz Museum last summer has been one of the most recent tourist magnets, with 250,000 visitors so far. Many of these also took the opportunity to visit the nearby beach and town of Blåvand.
Critics say that these inflated numbers cause a strain on local infrastructure. A simple shopping trip can take a very long time due to the heavy traffic.
There have also been complaints in Copenhagen, where residents living in blocks of flats have indicated unease at the number of tourists staying in airbnb rentals in their buildings following a dramatic increase over the last couple of years.
