By Josephine McKenna
One of Italy’s most popular ski resorts was forced to introduce emergency measures to turn back visitors after more than 10,000 unexpected day trippers flocked to the mountains for selfies.
About 250 tour buses travelled to Roccaraso, in the Apennine Mountains, from Naples and nearby towns last Sunday after an influencer posted reports about news of heavy snowfalls.
Roccaraso, a ski town in Italy, has put a cap on bus numbers after a TikTok video drew thousands of day trippers.Credit: TikTok
Most of the travellers said they had booked their trip after seeing videos posted by Rita De Crescenzo, who has more than 1.7 million followers on TikTok.
The wave of visitors created mayhem in the town’s restaurants, ski lifts, car parks and toilets, adding a new dimension to the overtourism usually associated with Italy’s major cities such as Rome, Florence and Venice.
Day trippers clogged the roads, jammed the town’s ski slopes and left piles of rubbish behind on Sunday, causing fury among many of Roccaraso’s 1500 residents. The visitors were seen in videos shared on social media queuing to board buses after leaving behind discarded barbecues and makeshift sleds.
After the TikTok promotion, tour companies in Naples and a dozen other cities in the surrounding region of Campania offered day trippers an all-inclusive mountain excursion for about $40, sandwiches included.
Francesco Di Donato, the Roccaraso mayor, said the town had been open and welcoming, but residents had never experienced such an influx.
“We are accustomed to hosting up to 20,000 skiers on a Sunday during the ski season,” Di Donato said. “But having another 10,000 show up without any warning was a risk for public order and security.
“No ski resort in Italy is able to welcome 12,000 to 13,000 people who think they can park their buses in the street. Clearly, we were unprepared.”
Roccaraso, about 200 kilometres east of Rome in the mountains of Abruzzo, is considered an easily accessible resort for skiers and their families looking for a day trip or a weekend away in central Italy.
Roccaraso, in the Abruzzo mountains, was clogged with day trippers after a TikTok video featured the resort.Credit: Getty Images/iStockphoto
“This is nothing new, it is a phenomenon that has always existed, but never on this scale,” hotel owner Giovanni Dellarmi said.
“The situation got out of control and all the services went haywire. We are used to the presence of campers in our area, but 250 buses are too many.”
Following Sunday’s onslaught, Roccaraso issued an ordinance to limit the number of tourist buses that can enter the town on weekends and bus operators are now required to book their trips in advance.
So far 60 buses have registered interest for this Sunday. “The first 100 buses registered on the regional site will be allowed in, the others will be stopped,” the mayor said. “It’s not a question of where you come from. It doesn’t matter if you are rich, poor, Neapolitan or Scottish.”
TikTok influencer Rita De Crescenzo, from Naples, visited Roccaraso.Credit: YouTube/Rita De Crescenzo
While some tour companies said they were reconsidering plans to reproduce last week’s cut-price day tours, Di Donato said imposing limits was the only way to manage demand.
In another measure, police checkpoints will be set up on the main road leading to Roccaraso on weekends, with about 100 officers expected to be deployed on the ground to control traffic.
Earlier this week, De Crescenzo denied responsibility for causing the chaos.
“I made such a beautiful advertisement for Roccaraso where I was on Monday and Tuesday and the crowd went crazy because I posted wonderful videos,” she said in a TikTok video update.
Roccaraso has had a bumper ski season with snowfalls up to 40 per cent higher than last year. However, the mayor said residents feared that a repeat of last week’s mayhem could drive away skiers with a season pass who had been coming to the resort for years.
“We have had excellent snow this season but there is a real risk that people will cancel their holidays,” he said.
One Salerno travel agent told ANSA news agency that it would consider cancelling its weekend bookings for Roccaraso and reimbursing customers.
“The truth is there are no parking areas equipped for coaches, a maximum of 50 buses are manageable, saying that 100 buses will fit in does not solve the problem,” he reportedly said.
Sunday’s events also prompted towns around Roccaraso to introduce crowd-control measures, including limiting tour bus access to the area.
The Telegraph, London