Too Many Visitors, Too Little Water

In the small town of Hallstatt, Austria, only about 800 people live there.

However, more than 10,000 tourists visit the town every day in summer.

Most of them arrive by bus early in the morning and leave before dark.

The local people say the streets are too crowded to walk through, and the lake is often full of boats.

What worries the residents most is the water problem.

The town has only one small water system, which was built for 800 people, not for thousands of daily visitors.

In 2020, the town council decided to limit the number of tour buses to 50 per day.

Some visitors now come by train instead, but the number is still growing.

A local teacher explained that her students cannot even cross the main square during lunch break.

She added that the town needs tourists' money, yet it also needs a quiet life.

This is a difficult balance that many popular places around the world are trying to find today.