“Blessed by nature with incomparable beauty, our mountain village is nestled in an impressive landscape between mountains and the lake.”

This is how officials of Lungern describe their village, adding that “we look forward to welcoming you soon.”

However, as latest developments indicate, they have likely come to regret issuing this invitation.

That is because hordes of foreign tourists are now overrunning the tiny municipality of just over 2,000 people, located in canton Obwalden, creating chaos in the village and generally disturbing the lives of local residents.

‘They photograph blond children’

Blame this influx on a South Korean Netflix series released in 2020, which has become very popular in Asian countries, “Crash Landing on You.” It was filmed in various Swiss locations, including in the Lungern region.

The picturesque portrayal of idyllic lakeside and mountain villages has prompted thousands of fans to travel to Switzerland  and visit the sites featured in the series (read more about this below).

Crash landing on You had me wanting to go to Switzerland ♥️ #CrashLandingOnYouFinale pic.twitter.com/MDLz2AVaal

— z (@maryzzae) February 16, 2020

And this is where Lungern comes in.

As one resident put it, “they come with their suitcases for a few hours, walk through the village and then disappear again. So tourism hardly brings us any economic benefit.”

But that is not the main complaint the locals have.

Possibly due to different cultures and notions of what constitutes admissible behaviour, these tourists invade the privacy of local residents by not only walking, uninvited, into their gardens, but sometimes into their homes as well.

And local school officials report that visitors have photographed and even touched blonde children — a novelty for Asian tourists.

“Lungern was not prepared for such a rapid increase in tourism,” said Andreas Kammer, president of the municipality.

‘Keep away’

To help locals keep tourists away from their homes (and children), the commune now distributes signs to all residents who request them, warning outsiders to stay away from their properties.

Asiatische Touristen fassen blonde Kinder an und betreten Häuser: Bewohner von Lungern OW wehren sich mit Stopp-Schildern. https://t.co/hsQwE4QTyL

— 20 Minuten (@20min) August 4, 2024

However, “the main thing that needs to be done is to inform visitors when they arrive about the usual rules of conduct in Switzerland,” Kammer said.

Victims of popularity

Lungern is the latest, but certainly not the only Swiss community made popular by the Netflix series.

Another one, which had experienced an unprecedented volume of tourists from Asia in the summer of 2023 was Istenwald, a village in the Bernese Oberland, where many of the scenes were filmed.

This influx has prompted the commune to introduce some measures to maintain order, including restricting the number of tourist buses allowed to enter at the same time, as well as some unusual ones like charging a 5-franc ‘selfie fee’ to discourage the queue build-up around the 7-metre-long pier featured in the series.

READ ALSO: Swiss village forced to restrict visitor numbers after Netflix success 

And then there is Lauterbrunnen

Another village in Bernese Oberland is also overrun with tourists — so much so that officials are proposing to charge visitors an entry fee.

Unlike  Lungern and Istenwald, however, Lauterbrunnen was not featured in a Netflix series.

Its popularity arose from its own claim that it was the inspiration for J.R.R. Tolkien’s ‘The Lord of the Rings.’

In order reduce congestion in the small village, maintain its unique atmosphere and, why not, boost the local economy, officials plan to charge visitors arriving by car a daily fee of between 5 and 10  francs 
 
READ ALSO: Stunning Swiss village plans to charge visitors to experience ‘Middle Earth’