Porsche event with helicopter causes outrage in South Tyrol
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An organized 12-pass tour with a helicopter flight over the Dolomites gets things going. In the future, however, such exits will be stopped.
Bolzano – The weather is excellent, the view of the Dolomites is spectacular. With hundreds of horsepower and a lot of sound, the sports cars race over Alpine passes. “Experience South Tyrol,” write the Porsche Centers Berlin on Facebook. “On our 12-pass tour with a helicopter flight over the Dolomites, sun, spectacular mountain scenery and legendary pass roads merge to create a unique driving experience in a Porsche.”
While some South Tyrol communities are declaring war on traffic, thousands of vehicles roll over the popular Alpine passes every day, often in the form of organized tours. What is an unforgettable experience for the group of holidaymakers from Germany gets the locals’ blood pumping. The article about the Porsche tour in South Tyrol’s mountains clearly backfires given the many negative reactions.
Porsche brags about its 12-pass tour in South Tyrol – and is met with a storm of indignation
More than 420 comments were collected within a few days on the post from June 23rd. The tone of the vast majority of requests to speak is extremely sharp. “Stay at home. In South Tyrol, but also in North Tyrol, no one needs such ‘guests’. Rent a race track in your area for a day,” writes one user. Others agree that it is “not Disneyland” after all. There is huge dissatisfaction among the population about the loud “protzboxes”.
The criticism of the organizer is clear: “What you are doing here is completely disrespectful to both nature and the South Tyrolean population,” notes one person. The display of the pass tour in particular makes many angry: “Spare us from your embarrassing posturing. You are arrogantly consuming sensitive nature and landscapes and are looking for ‘fun’ at the expense of nature, people and the environment.”
A woman who says she lives on Mendel Pass Road describes everyday life during the holiday season: “Sometimes you can’t open the windows all weekend because of the noise. Not to mention the air.” Every weekend, such “caravans” of “Porsche, Maserati, Lambos, vintage cars, Harleys, Ducati” would cause enormous local nuisance. “The fact that there will be advertising” makes the lady seethe. It wasn’t until spring that a political decision brought the tourism debate to a boil.
“Responsible and climate-conscious actions are the focus of our daily work”
Also often a thorn in the side of the local population: helicopter flights. “Helicopter sightseeing flights in the Dolomites are extremely annoying, polluting, loud and disruptive and should be banned,” says a local on Facebook. There are also a few users who defend the Porsche campaign. However, a local sums up the basic tenor: “Every guest is welcome in South Tyrol. But… roaring sports cars and rattling helicopters on the mountains? No thanks!”
At the request of Munich Mercury Porsche confirms from Ippen.Media that the tour is an offer from the Wiegand Drive Events, “which was carried out in cooperation with the Porsche centers in Berlin.” According to the car company, the trips are “organized or supported directly by Porsche.” On the provider’s website, the three-day jaunt is advertised as an “extraordinary curve adventure”. The price including overnight stay in a five-star hotel: up to more than 3200 euros. According to information from Wiegand Drive Events, the upcoming 12-pass tour is already fully booked in many Porsche centers.
Porsche only addresses the massive criticism of the exit in passing. Porsche Holding’s sustainability strategy states, among other things: “We place responsible and climate-conscious actions at the center of our daily work – in all business areas and throughout the entire supply chain.”
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When asked to what extent such a tour, including a helicopter tour and CO₂ class G vehicles with a consumption of up to 13.8 liters per 100 kilometers, can be combined with the company’s sustainability claim, the only answer is that they are pursuing “a holistic approach that takes ecological and social aspects into account along our value chain.” Porsche takes “corresponding information and points of criticism” seriously, “particularly when they affect ecologically sensitive regions.” “It goes without saying that regional conditions are taken into account and exemplary behavior in road traffic is observed.”
South Tyrol is taking action: motorsport events on passes will be banned in many places in the future
The regional conditions have already changed, and such trips will probably only be possible to a limited extent in the future. On June 19, 2026, the South Tyrolean state government decided to ban organized motorsport events on certain state and regional roads.
The ban applies to all motorsport events on roads in designated protected areas and in mountain areas above 1,600 meters above sea level. This affects routes in the UNESCO World Natural Heritage Dolomites, in the nature parks, in the Stelvio National Park and other landscape protection areas. The affected road sections can be found in the decision. However, the regulation can be extended to other sections if necessary.
The ban not only covers competitive motorsport events, but probably also trips such as the criticized 12 Passes Tour. According to the state of South Tyrol, the decisive factor is “whether the event has a recognizable organizational framework”. “This is particularly the case if a joint excursion is planned, advertised, coordinated or carried out by an organizer, association, club, association, company or other organized group and if a common route, stage, route or a common process is planned.” Private trips by individual people are not affected.
A corresponding request to the office of the State Mobility Council remained unanswered. But Governor Arno Kompatscher makes no secret of why it had to come to this: “The population along the pass roads has reached its limits in many places,” he tells the South Tyrolean online magazine Somersault. Another innovation to cope with the masses of tourists has also been in effect in the South Tyrolean mountains since this year. (Sources: Own research, Porsche Centers Berlin Facebook, Province of South Tyrol, decision of the state government, Salto.bz) (jm)