The residents of the charming alpine village of Bergün, Switzerland, held a meeting Monday and passed a new law -against tourist photography! Any tourist caught taking a picture would be fined five francs ($5.19).The reasoning behind the law was concern over others on social media.
“It is scientifically proven that beautiful holiday photos on social media make the viewer unhappy because they cannot be there themselves,” said the village tourist office in a statement.
Bergün/Bravuogn has a particularly picturesque landscape to offer, so it risks making people particularly unhappy, it feels.
“Bergün/Bravuogn is beautiful. We don’t want to make people outside the community unhappy by sharing social media photos of our picturesque landscape, and we cordially invite you to visit Bergün to experience it for yourself,” said mayor Peter Nicolay.
The village removed photographs from its own Facebook account, and people started talking. Of course, that was the whole point, and the publicity stunt worked exactly as it was intended. Bergün's move and the backlash was covered in papers all over. By Thursday, the village announced it was granting "special permission" for visitors to take pictures, and the ban will be rescinded completely at the next village meeting. -via Atlas Obscura
(Image credit: Adrian Michael)