Full boats, full roads, full beaches, hotels and cottages? The tourist season is coming for Texel again. Can the island still cope with that boom? The almost overrunning tourism on the German Wadden island of Sylt is the fear image for Texel. André van der Vliet of the Texel Core Values Working Group visited the island with NH and heard shocking stories. “The big money is everything there. Make sure your island stays your island.”
The North German peninsula of Sylt is considered the Saint-Tropez of the Wadden. It seems like one large luxury holiday park, with endless beaches and endless nature. There are also endless hotels and capital villas that are often not even inhabited, but only count as an investment for second home owners. “As if they have built up the Mui here,” says Texel resident André van der Vliet, shocked.
Real estate sharks
“Frightening”, says Van der Vliet after a conversation with two original islanders. One of them lives alone in a street. She has had no neighbors for years, because all the houses are rented out to holidaymakers. She therefore warns the people of Texel: “Protect your island. We can’t do much here anymore, because the real estate sharks are getting under our feet.”
NH visited the German Wadden island of Sylt together with Texel resident André van der Vliet. You can see what the overrun tourism looks like there and what Texel could learn from it in this report:
The German Wadden island of Sylt is the specter of gone tourism for Texel – Jurgen van den Bos / NH News
NH360 about tourism on Texel
Has Texel reached the limit of tourism? NH hopes to receive an answer to this. The stories come from all sides: 360 degrees.
From 28 February to 3 March NH will move part of the editorial team to Den Burg. This week we can be found daily in the Glass Palace. On Tuesday we also make live radio there: between 12.00 and 14.00 hours the program Lunchroom comes from there.
Do you want to join the conversation? Everyone is welcome to come and share their story with us. You can also just take a look. Our editorial staff can be found from tomorrow in the Glass Palace, located in the Wezentuin park in Den Burg.
All stories that are made from Texel can be recognized by the NH 360º design above the articles. A collection of the stories can be found at nhnieuws.nl/360texel.