For the fear of the inhabitants of the island that they would be overwhelmed by vacationers of 9 euros, countless posts were made with busy beaches and full of trains.
Brigita von Guildefeld and Bodo Marks (DPA)
Edited by: Maria Rigoutsou
Anyone who has been following social media in recent weeks would have the feeling that for the 9 euro monthly ticket there is only one destination: the Sult.
For the fear of the inhabitants of the island that they would be overwhelmed by vacationers of 9 euros, countless posts were made with busy beaches and full of trains.
But the islanders really only wanted to draw attention to the fact that the trains would be even busier than usual. If you do not want to travel by boat from Denmark, you have to go by train through Hindenburg.
A route that in the past years due to the inconsistency of the itineraries and the crowded trains became a front page many times. The impact especially on social networks has left some surprised.
“Some things obviously did not turn out as we intended and we will pay more attention in the future,” said Carl Max Helner, owner of several fashion stores in Sult.
Employees concept
The 9 euro ticket is valid from Wednesday in German on local transport. In Sylt now, as in other tourist resorts, many more visitors are expected, especially on weekends. But he does not believe that “they will overwhelm us,” says Carl Max Helner. Their main concept is the approximately 4,000 workers who move daily to work on the island. “Our biggest concern is that our employees who travel daily will have to travel on even more crowded trains,” he says.
Now the island is preparing for the days of Pentecost and is definitely the first test of endurance of 9 euros. At the moment everything is going normally and there are not many people, said a representative of the German Railways. What the situation will be like at the weekend, however, no one can say yet.
Sylt is trying to escape its reputation as a beautiful island of the rich. The inhabitants of the island, however, shake their heads when they hear such rumors. Helner’s colleague at the presidency of the island’s business association, Ole Koenich, recently wrote in the Zeit newspaper: “Those who want to visit us have misconceptions about Sylt. “There is no ‘zoo’ here with the rich, where millionaires and billionaires walk.”
Wanting a sustainable development
But also the marketing director Luft says that everyone who visits our island knows how heterogeneous it is and adds that the residents are happy for every visitor. In Sylt live some rich and famous and have a second home worth millions or stay in one of the luxury hotels. But there are also several campsites, cheap hostels and apartments that are not more expensive than on other islands.
Now the week before Pentecost, the island is very crowded but does not seem overcrowded. A holidaymaker from Saarbrücken is walking with her husband and her opinion is not clear about the 9 euro ticket. He wants all people to be able to travel here for less money, but on the other hand the island is already very full, he says.
Lots of people, very full island. Many residents have been thinking about it for years now and not just because of the pandemic and the willingness of the world to travel now. The island is trying to deal with the situation by developing a more sustainable tourism, at a slower pace, with permanent residences instead of resorts as well as smart traffic ideas.
