Mountaineering Villages in Tyrol - Steinberg am Rofan & Sellraintal

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Direction: Stefan Sternad, Camera: Stefan Sternad

Production: ORFIII, ipFILM

Documentary film: 45 min./2023

You don't just become a mountaineering village, you have to earn it. The Alpine Association awards this distinction to communities that meet the strict guidelines.

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"Holidaymakers come to us as guests and leave as friends," says hotel operator Renate Melmer from the Sellraintal mountaineering village region. A statement that sounds like something from an advertising brochure, but is a living tradition of hospitality for the Melmers in their family business at 1,700 meters.

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In this new production for the "Land der Berge" series on ORF III, director Stefan Sternad explores the question of how successfully the "Mountaineering Village" project launched by the Austrian Alpine Association is being implemented by the individual communities. Is soft tourism and sustainable management a working strategy in tourism?

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In this episode, the residents of Steinberg am Rofan, Sellrain, Gries im Sellrain and St. Sigmund in Tirol talk about their life in a mountaineering village and provide interesting views on life in an Alpine region.

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For example, 24-year-old Anna Moser from Steinberg says: "I can't imagine living anywhere else or moving to a city!" She loves her work as a part-time farmer. Even if everyday life can be quite exhausting between farming and three other part-time jobs.