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A popular ski resort in Italy's Roccaraso was swarmed by tourists last Sunday after a TikToker shared a video from the destination and tour companies advertised cheap day-long trips.
The otherwise calm and breathtaking mountain retreat received an additional 10,000 visitors hoping for a "white weekend". All they found were snow-scarce slopes, parking lots packed beyond capacity, and massive crowds on the roads, creating chaos.
Images showing the aftermath of the tourist surge shows litter strewn across the resort and garbage buried in the snow. The town's 1,500 residents were overwhelmed, with reports of visitors urinating in public areas. Some videos even showed people setting up their own barbecues and lighting fires on the slopes as resort facilities became overrun.
Rita De Crescenzo è stata intervistata dal TG1 e dal TG5 dopo che, lo scorso weekend, ha invitato i suoi follower ad andare a Roccaraso: oltre 10.000 turisti presenti (anche per via delle offerte), caos dei mezzi e polemiche per la spazzatura lasciata sulla neve. pic.twitter.com/6mENiSlEOA
— Trash Italiano (@trash_italiano) January 29, 2025Speaking to CNN, Roccaraso's mayor, Francesco di Donato, said that on a typical two-day winter weekend, the area welcomes about 20,000 skiers and an additional 15,000 visitors but on Sunday, an unexpected influx of 10,000 additional tourists created a significant security risk.
This went crazy after a popular TikToker, Rita De Crescenzo's promotional video of the ski resort went viral with over one million views. Many of the visitors, most travelling about two hours from Naples, had purchased "all-inclusive" one-day trips for as little as 20 euros through travel agencies and TikTok ads.
Residents blamed her for the overcrowding, but in response, she said it wasn't her fault that buses had blocked the roads. "I made such a beautiful advertisement for Roccaraso, where I was on Monday and Tuesday, and the crowd went crazy because I posted wonderful videos," she said in a post.
She further said that she didn't feel responsible for the so-called "invasion" of tourists, adding that "maybe twice as many" visitors will head to the resort next weekend because of her viral video.
