Hallstatt, Austria's Alpine jewel, debates post-corona tourism

Only a few months ago residents of the impossibly picturesque Austrian village of Hallstatt were debating how to stem the influx of tourists thronging its narrow streets, nestled between soaring mountains and a sparkling lake.

Careful what you wish for: with the collapse in international travel brought about by the coronavirus pandemic, the tour groups that used to jam the streets - with up to 100 coaches arriving daily in the high season - have disappeared.

In pre-coronavirus times the main concern for locals was that Hallstatt would be turned into an open-air theme park and become yet another symbol of the phenomenon of "overtourism".

With a million visitors per year for just 750 residents, the tiny village competed with the likes of Venice and Barcelona in the rankings of most tourists per inhabitant.

A river boat is seen at lake Hallstatt.

"There are more than 600,000 photos of Hallstatt on Instagram!" says local mayor Alexander Scheutz, still a little incredulous at the worldwide fame Hallstatt has garnered.

The number of tourist coaches coming to Hallstatt doubled in the space of five years, reaching 21,254 in 2019.

Many of the bigger tour groups were made up of visitors from China, Taiwan, South Korea and the United States.

A major draw has been Hallstatt's apparent similarity to the village depicted in the wildly successful Frozen film series, with its sloping, snow-laden timber houses and pointed church spire.

A woman cleans river boats at lake Hallstatt in Hallstatt.

Hallstatt village is a World Heritage-listed town on Lake Hallstatt's western shore in Austria's mountainous Salzkammergut region in Austria.

The unveiling of a replica of Hallstatt in 2012 in the southern Chinese province of Guangdong, as well as its starring role in a Korean TV series, have also helped its international fame.

COVID-19, changed everything for the 780 locals of this Austrian village. Between the pleasure of a return to calm and the worries of a loss of income linked to tourism, the residents hesitate.