[rockoyster]

30 May 2017 at 18:00:52 #812051

Having passed this construction site three times in the past few days I am wondering what the locals think of this development http://www.buergenstock.ch/en

As a visitor it strikes me as a scar on the landscape and a playground for the super rich. With so much natural beauty does Switzerland really need this sort of thing?

Will the G7 soon be meeting at Bürgenstock?

Perhaps I am mis-reading it.

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[Slowpoke]

30 May 2017 at 19:42:56 #864266

<<“As a visitor it strikes me as a scar on the landscape and a playground for the super rich. With so much natural beauty does Switzerland really need this sort of thing?”>>

It’s been there for years…not so large or fancy, as in this incarnation, of course. I’m not sure what it means to ask the question “Do the Swiss really need…..?” I’d not use the word “need” in cases like this.

And, the Swiss don’t mind catering to the super rich. Have always done so. Why shouldn’t they do so? Perhaps the only not to reason is that it brings a lot of foreign money into Switzerland (which of course is why the Swiss as a whole don’t mind having the super rich around and spending) ….but which contributes to some degree to forcing the value of the CHF higher. Of course, a lot of that money comes without a foreigner or a construction project attached….just money coming from people who think the Swiss Frank is a stable place to park their wealth.

There has been concern about overbuilding of empty vacation/rental homes, and some restrictions were in place for a while. Not sure if they still are.

Did you go to Hammetschwand?

is the funicular running yet?

Slowpoke

[rockoyster]

31 May 2017 at 5:05:42 #864267

Hi Slowpoke,

No we didn’t get to Hammetschwand. The railway is not yet open. The resort construction project is somewhat behind schedule and the railway will only reopen when the resort opens.

[rockoyster]

1 June 2017 at 16:05:32 #864268

So today we met a very nice lady on the Spreuerbrücke. She was a volunteer with the Luzern Tourism organisation. We had a long chat about all things Swiss. I asked her what she thought of the new resort project and she was very positive. She assured us that once the construction was finished and the cranes have gone and the trees have grown that it would blend in quite well. She had done a tour of the building site and the project management people had convinced her that the development was intended for all people not just the rich and famous. A new ferry service will connect Luzern to the funicular and they are targeting a mind-boggling 100,000 visitors a day.

[Annika]

1 June 2017 at 17:52:26 #864269

Thanks for your update rockoyster! Quite interesting to learn about the opinion of a local. I’m curious what the final result will look like.

[Removed user]

2 June 2017 at 9:37:50 #864270

I’ve noticed Germans speakers often mix up 1000 and 100,000 when translating…so might not be 100,000 a day 😉 that would be too much eh!?

[rockoyster]

2 June 2017 at 13:39:47 #864271

Hi Lucas,

The 100,000 was in a promotional article for the resort. I think it is “fair dinkum”. 😉

[Slowpoke]

2 June 2017 at 13:41:54 #864272

<<“with the Luzern Tourism organisation. “>>

<<“Quite interesting to learn about the opinion of a local.”>>

Hi Annika –

A rather specialized sub-set of “local” don’t you think? 😉

Slowpoke

[Slowpoke]

2 June 2017 at 14:00:40 #864273

Hi Rockoyster –

Let us suppose that they run the funicular up the hill 10 times per hour, which would be unusually frequent service.

Further, let us say that they have a very generous capacity per car….how about 100 people? That is also very generous.

If they run it 18 hours per day at that rate all day long, they would have 18,000 people. They would need about 36 boat trips per day, at 500 people per boat. Once per hour is the most likely ‘ High” number, and not all day long.

The roads up to Bürgenstock are not exactly superhighways, and, as presently configured, parking capacity is no more than a couple of hundred cars… considering both access routes. One trip per car per day could add 800 people. Lets go for 4 trips. Total 3200 people. Similar orders of magnitude for residents, but they would not be “visitors” and would have their own parking places.

Of course, they could build parking garages………

Bus service currently goes to near Trogen; the map shows it is supposed to run all the way to the western parking lot, where it could easily find room to turn around. During construction, that access has not been available, but I assume it will be in use.

Two buses per hour with 50 people per bus would add 1200 to 1800 people per day.

Total with these generous assumptions- 20,600.

I’m betting with Lucas. Someone slipped a decimal point. Probably the number is 10,000, and that figure comes from biased sources.

And, some portion of that is not from the “super rich” class….it is people going to Hammetschwand for a sausage.

Just my opinion. 😉

Slowpoke

[Removed user]

2 June 2017 at 15:44:59 #864274

optimistic Swiss!

[rockoyster]

3 June 2017 at 5:12:36 #864275

LOL