Overtourism is partly to blame for the funicular crash that killed 16 people in Lisbon, the head of a local residents’ group has said.
Fabiana Pavel, president of the Bairro Alto Residents’ Association, told the BBC that the funicular had been disproportionately used by tourists in recent years, causing a strain on the service.
The cause of the tragic incident is now under investigation by both Portugal's public prosecutor's office and public transport company Carris.
Ms Pavel said: “The use of it in recent years is certainly inappropriate. It was used too much and the population lost the ability to use it as public transport, because it became a tourist attraction.”
She told the BBC that the funicular was an important means of transportation for residents of the area who were unable to access the service as it had become a tourist attraction, "especially for people with reduced mobility as it allows them to easily climb a steep hill".
The yellow-and-white Elevador da Gloria funicular opened in 1885 and is classified as a national monument, carrying 3 million passengers up and down some of the steepest streets in the capital each year.
One of the funicular cars reportedly came loose from the cable, before jolting and hitting the pavement with “great force”. The second car then derailed and crashed into a building.
Portugal’s Prime Minister, Luis Montenegro, described it as "one of the biggest tragedies of our recent past.”
The first preliminary report is expected to be issued on Friday by the government’s Office for Air and Rail Accident Investigations, which has concluded the analysis of the wreckage.
Chief police investigator Nelson Oliveira said a preliminary police report was expected within 45 days.
Portugal is one of several countries in Europe which have protested against overtourism in recent years.
In Sintra, a municipality near Lisbon, residents have been embroiled in a battle against the town’s summer tourism and traffic which they say has turned the town into a “congested amusement park”. Last year, a local association QSintra placed posters around the town that read: ‘”Sintra: a traffic jam in paradise’”.
There have also been multiple demonstrations in Barcelona this summer as residents claim the millions of tourists that visit each year have caused a housing crisis in the Spanish city and pushed locals out of their own neighbourhoods.
The protests have been organised under the banner of the SET alliance of ‘Sud d'Europa contra la Turistització, or Southern Europe against Overtourism’, which teamed up with groups in Portugal and Italy.
Three British nationals among 16 dead in Lisbon funicular crash
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