Happy Birthday Schwiiz

It´s the 1st of August today - Switzerland is celebrating its national day amongst thunderous clouds and downpours after a week of hot and sunny weather. Yesterday, farmers were busy getting the last of the hay in which had been drying on the mountain slopes. This year has been a challenge due to the insistent bad weather which has caused a lot of landslides in the mountains, overcrowding of hiking destinations by tourist has kept mountain rescue very busy and a number of bathers have underestimated the ferocity of the water in rivers, lakes and near waterfalls. Like everywhere in Europe nature is under pressure from climate change and overtourism - the first protests have reached normally law-abiding Switzerland. The tourism industry needs to welcome a debate and engage in managing incoming visitors better before a crisis point like that in Spain and Greece is reached. Nature is fragile, especially in the Alps. Let´s protect it, by managing access and distribution of tourists, by informing and educating visitors and especially by debunking social media posts.