By Giselda Vagnoni
ROME, Jan 15 (Reuters) – As Italy prepares to host the Winter Olympics next month, Alpine communities are sounding the alarm over social media-driven tourism that is transforming sacred landscapes into selfie backdrops and straining the fragile mountain ecosystem.
The Games will be based in Milan and in Cortina d’Ampezzo, a town nestled among the jagged limestone peaks of the Dolomites — a UNESCO World Heritage Site — with additional events held in the nearby localities of Predazzo, Tesero and Anterselva.
Organisers argue that an Olympics based largely on existing venues will have a limited impact on the environment, while leaving upgraded facilities and stronger local economies.
But some local officials and environmental groups counter that the global spotlight risks accelerating a troubling trend: overtourism fuelled by Instagram and TikTok, driven both by individual users and promotional campaigns. They warn that once-quiet destinations such as the Seceda summit and Lake Sorapis have already been transformed into viral hotspots overwhelmed by visitors.
Reinhold Messner, the Italian climber who made the first solo ascent of Mount Everest, has pointed the finger at influencers.
“They attract people who know nothing about the mountains. They arrive by car, park wherever they want, and take photos. They bring only noise, traffic and aggression,” he said.
A 2023 Apple advert featuring Seceda’s dramatic ridgeline helped spark a wave of visitors. By last summer, images of long queues at the cable car station – with tourists holding smartphones and parasols instead of hiking gear – had gone viral.
Geotagging has similarly transformed Lake Sorapis, whose turquoise glacial waters now make it one of the most photographed sites in the Dolomites.
“A certain style of communications sometimes gets out of control,” Cortina Mayor Gianluca Lorenzi told Reuters, noting that on peak days up to 2,000 people can gather around the lake, diminishing the visitor experience.
ANCIENT CORAL REEFS UNDER PRESSURE
The Dolomites are remnants of ancient coral reefs that formed 250 million years ago beneath a tropical sea. Fossils of ammonites and dinosaur footprints dot the region.
The mountains’ pale dolomite rock creates a phenomenon known as enrosadira, where peaks glow pink and orange at sunrise and sunset, a spectacle now widely shared online.
Cortina has hosted the Games before. The 1956 Winter Olympics, the first ever to be broadcast internationally on television, had a lasting economic impact on the town.
“The construction of new sports facilities…, and the opening of ski lifts helped strengthen the resort’s appeal and better balance the summer and winter seasons,” wrote Andrea Goldstein in his book Cortina 1956.
This time, however, the Games come after a decade in which mountain tourism in Italy has tripled, fuelled in part by regional social media campaigns that heavily promoted the Dolomites’ most breathtaking views.
According to a study by The European House Ambrosetti think tank, the Games will attract an additional nine million visitors to the five provinces hosting competitions – Milan, Belluno, Bolzano, Sondrio and Trento – between 2027 and 2030.
Thomas Benedikter, director of South Tyrol’s POLITiS civic education centre, has warned that the influx risks exhausting water resources and degrading the Dolomites’ most valuable asset: the landscape itself.
“Artificial snowmaking and hotel water use compete with agriculture, industry, and households,” he said. “Hotels, wellness centres, and ski infrastructure consume space and scar the scenery, the true capital of tourism, too often forgotten.”
LOCAL INFLUENCERS RETHINK THEIR ROLE
As tensions rise, a growing number of locals are pushing back. Overcrowding has led to erosion of trails and increased littering, and some residents have begun staging protests.
In the Gardena Valley, a farmer installed a 5 euro turnstile on a trail to protest tourists trampling his land. A similar backlash erupted in the Funes Valley, where a photogenic church became a social media sensation.
“A taxi driver told me he had just dropped off a tourist who wanted a selfie at that small church – an 80-kilometre (50 mile) round trip from Bolzano,” said Simonetta Nardin, editor-in-chief of Salto, an online magazine based in the city.
“Places that were once part of long hiking tours have become drive-up destinations, visited just to snap a photo.”
The criticism is prompting reflection even among local influencers.
“I don’t believe it’s a hundred influencers causing overtourism — most of the pressure comes from tourism agencies,” content creator Arianna Nutte said in a podcast. “But we are complicit.”
She added that some mountain guides have begun asking hikers to sign non‑disclosure agreements: visitors may take photos, but they must not reveal where they were taken.
Another outdoor content creator, Matteo Perani, says he has stopped sharing exact locations to avoid drawing crowds to fragile areas.
Environmental groups, meanwhile, are calling for tougher rules: restrictions on new ski lifts, traffic limits on Alpine passes, and caps on hotel construction.
Cortina’s mayor has proposed restricted traffic zones with cameras to monitor and manage visitor flows. At Lake Sorapis, authorities are considering creating a small parking lot with a fixed number of spaces – once it fills, access would be denied, encouraging visitors to explore less crowded locations.
“We must manage overtourism by ensuring parking and services so that influx does not lead to the collapse of the area,” he said.
“When posting on social media people must understand that certain areas cannot absorb hordes of visitors.”
(Reporting by Giselda VagnoniEditing by Keith Weir and Toby Davis)
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