The turquoise waters of the Swiss mountain lake Kauma have long attracted residents and tourists. With the advent of social networks, the popularity of this place, located at an altitude of 1,000 meters above sea level, next to the picturesque alpine village of Flims, has increased dramatically: hundreds and thousands of Instagrammers have visited here to capture their appearance against the background of a rare landscape.
The authorities of the canton of Graubünden decided to put an end to this by introducing a fee for visiting the attraction.
“I only wanted to swim once, so 19 Swiss francs is too expensive,” says Michael Mersch, a tourist from Germany.
“I thought it would cost less, but when I saw the view of the lake from above, I decided – okay, I’ll pay!” – Adds Samantha Fox, a tourist from Great Britain.
“We were passing by and wanted to see the famous lake. We didn’t pay attention to the price, but obviously, it’s not affordable for everyone,” agrees Fabio Di Bari, an Italian tourist.
From now on, only 1,700 lucky people per day can buy a ticket to enjoy the beauty of the local landscape. Representatives of the government responded to the flurry of criticism on social networks:
“We don’t want to exclude guests for the day, we intend to limit their number so that Kauma Lake is admired primarily by those who have come here for a long time,” explains Guido Casti, head of the tourism department of the municipality of Flims.
“We in Switzerland are not used to set a fee for admiring natural sights, but in the European context and – more broadly – in the international context, this is a fairly common practice,” concludes Monica Bundy, one of the heads of the Tourism Research Center of the University of Bern.