Tyrol - the holy land. Mountain worlds of enchanting beauty, Alpine valleys nestled in the landscape, alpine pastures and huts gaudi in their original meaning and a mountain people full of hospitality, with pride in their origin. For example, many imagine the most beautiful of all the federal states in Austria.
Rich in natural beauties, packed with imposing mountain peaks and gifted in winter, countless leisure opportunities in the snow-covered nature.
Yes, that's the way it is – nature is diverse, at the same time beautiful and opportunities to experience adventures in Tyrol are really more than enough. The beautiful pictures of our Tyrol advertising are now familiar to half the world and the Hahnenkamm race weekend, which is due to take place every year in January, also contributes its part to the fact that Tyrol gets its attention all over the world.
I was also happy to be able to live in Tyrol, but now I wonder if I can or will still do it. This line of thought raises more and more questions in me, which inevitably arise swell scare me the longer I think about it. At the moment I feel a little out of place and lost in Tyrol, often like a foreign body in an organism that is not accepted and repelled.
Quo vadis Tirol
As it is called so beautifully – Tyrol thrives on tourism. It may be when you visit some areas in Austria where no tourist gets lost. Then you feel like you're 50 to 100 years back. Tyrol, on the other hand, is really very progressive and hyper modern. A life in pure luxury – but the question arises, at what price? Everything comes at a price in life – and tourism here in Tyrol is also taking its toll. A great tribute that is not recognizable to many at first glance. At least that's how it seems.
The sell-out of nature, for example. Does it really have to be that a modern cable car leads to every mountain peak, that more and more luxury hotels and hypermodern "mountain huts" welcome the sporty, but also unsportsmanlike guests? 4-seater chairlifts are out – there must already be 6 and 8 chairlifts and preferably with weather protection and heating, so that it does not freeze the guests, when practising an outdoor leisure activity. 
Please don't get me wrong, I'm not an opponent of further development. But is this really one? To hoist more crowds on the mountains, so that there is still more rubbish lying there and exactly what makes Tyrol so worth visiting, nature itself, has to suffer from it. After all, everything is going in the wrong direction – in the direction of money. Unfortunately, there are enough examples of the brainless blinded acts of shame. Apart from the obvious interventions in nature, such as 1000-day snowmaking facilities, hundreds of artificial storage lakes to supply these, cable cars to every mountain top and megastaus caused by thousands of tourists in winter, there is unfortunately still a suffering wildlife that is constantly being banished from its habitats. Yes, exactly, from their habitats. Where did the animals stay in Tyrol?? Displaced to higher altitudes, deported to our neighboring countries, exhibited in our alpine zoo. ALso personally, the difference to intact nature was extremely striking. If you walk in the woods in Slovakia, you can run over the bear, wild boar and lynx. Not to mention deer and deer. But in Tyrol the development of the Inn Valley is already so advanced that there is simply no more space for the animals of the forest.
By the way, you know the famous "Sautrog".... the potty-ugly railway overpass over the Inn? He got his name because this concrete construction really looks like an oversized suction cup. If you think in larger dimensions, then it is almost on my tongue that it is not the railway overpass of the Sautrog of Tyrol, but the Inn Valley itself. or not? Fully concreted, highly built up to the summits, millions of tourists feast on this trough, to the detriment of the local wildlife.
And if a bear from South Tyrol or a wild boar gets lost in Tyrol again, then the hunting season will be opened without further ado. How can it be that a mayor shoots probably the only wild boar in Tyrol and still lets himself be celebrated proudly by the media like a peacock? Weidmann's salvation, dear Mayor - but not for the wild boar they killed, but for the bird they probably shot with this act. The trophy photo of the dead game with the proud hunter is more like a criminal photo for me, with the dead victim. Just perverse in my eyes, but my whining here will probably not help either.
A glacial amalgamation is currently under discussion. Does that have to be? All just for the money? The money of a few, because otto normal consumers no longer have a chance to even get a breadcrumb of this cake. Due to the masses of tourists who are attracted by such actions as the flies from the shit, the Tyrolean is deprived of many possibilities. The one who has to work out everything, to whom not rich parents are left behind real estate, for whom already a basic need to have a home is considerably made considerably more difficult. There are not enough apartments available, because everyone wants to make the fast money via Airbnb and Booking.com. Unfortunately, this is also possible, but only for those who have money. As a result, property prices are being sent to unaffordable heights, and many simply fall by the wayside. But those who decide are right. It is quite important that the Imens developed Ötztal and the less developed Pitztal are merged in terms of skiing. Important for a few families who already govern these valleys on their own. But I must agree with them: many new jobs are being created for the population. However, for the people of the eastern states, because these workers are still cheap to have,so that even more money is left, less in the pots.
Wake up finally ! As Tyrol develops, it leads to even more frustration and suffering in the population, which is already consumed by envy. 
So all that remains is the question to be answered, quo vadis Tirol?
But is this really the question? Isn't it far too late to find an answer?
No, it's never too late. But it's definitely the wrong question I'm asking myself. The way of Tyrol is pre-programmed, the course is set and it is simply given full throttle.
The real question for me should be: Quo vadis Mr.Bag?
Where can one go to escape this money-controlled system and live a life in harmony with nature, to live a life with dignity without being just a cog in the gears tourism?
People, if I have found an answer to this question, I will inform you about it again.
Until then, I will rely on my emotional compass and joyfully find and explore new ways. Until I have found the right place with Lucina and we feel like we have arrived. Until then, I wish you one thing: do not fulfill the task of a toothwheel in the large tourism gearbox. Because as a mechanical engineer, I know that if you suffer material fatigue, the faulty gear will only be replaced and replaced by a new.
PS: These are just some of my thoughts that regularly shoot through my head. My very personal feeling, that is, a very subjective opinion. How do you feel?? Please let us know your opinion on this subject with a comment. Would be happy.
Due to the changed situation, this article is available in a updated version "Quo vadis Tirol" Update. Please read and comment here.
