Swiss Village Considers Tourist Tax to Limit Day Trippers

28th May 2024

Lauterbrunnen the sits in the valley beneath Wengen and Murren and sees hundreds of people per day arrive in the village of 2,400 residents in busy periods.

Car parks are over-flowing with roads blocked.

“We feel like employees in an amusement park,” village priest Markus Tschanz told Swiss public radio SRF last year.

There area is known it’s scenic waterfalls – there are 72 in the valley, some of which are as high as 400m.

The village featured in the James Bond film, On Her Majesty’s Secret Service, that starred George Lazenby as the British secret agent.

007 sped through Lauterbrunnen in a car chase.

One proposal is to follow the Italian city of Venice and charge day- trippers from CHF5 (£4.30) to CHF10 (£8.60) as entry fee.

Guests who book overnight accommodation would be exempt.

The fee would not apply to those who arrive by public transport.

Any tax would not be imposed this summer with further feasibility studies to be carried out.

Switzerland. Image © PlanetSKI.