Observation deck closes after viral Instagram post

Lincoln's Rock in Australia demonstrates how a single social media post can transform a hidden gem into a tourist hotspot. In the summer of 2023, K-pop star Jennie Kim, a member of the Korean girl group Blackpink, posted a video of herself dangling her legs from the cliff edge of Lincoln's Rock at sunset (see below). With her nearly 90 million followers, she transformed the previously manageable number of visitors to the rock into a mass of tourists for whom the location was not designed.

A local resident told «CNN» that tourists no longer come to enjoy the view, but simply to take the same photo as the K-pop star. Since then, visitor numbers have skyrocketed. At peak times, up to 3,000 people a day visit the rock. According to local authorities, the surge is due to this video – the post received 4.6 million likes.

3000 visitors – 16 parking spaces

The rocky promontory lies about a two-hour drive west of Sydney and offers unobstructed views over the Jamison Valley and the surrounding Blue Mountains with their eucalyptus forests. The mountain range is a UNESCO World Heritage Site, comprising eight protected areas and home to, among other species, the very rare black cockatoos, which avoid humans.

The area around the plateau was one of the quieter places in the region and had not previously been developed for tourism. The access road is two lanes, but extremely narrow – there are only 16 parking spaces. The influx of tourists has raised unprecedented security concerns and environmental worries among the local authorities. Against this backdrop, access to the rock has been temporarily closed.

Authorities say they intend to work on a long-term plan. Currently, they are examining various options for managing tourist flows while simultaneously protecting the environment. These include cordoning off the most dangerous areas and introducing time-limited access times.

It's not the first time, and certainly not the last, that a virtually unknown place has become a tourist destination overnight. The village of Iseltwald, with its 420 inhabitants, on Lake Brienz, was overrun by thousands of visitors from South Korea after the release of the Korean Netflix series «Crash Landing on You.» A particular boat dock on Lake Brienz, where the series' main character played the piano, became a popular photo subject. The village subsequently installed a paid turnstile to manage the flow of tourists.