For the locals in the tourist resorts, the four seasons of the year are replaced by the tourist seasons. The fact that Sölden grows in numbers every winter to resemble a minor town and shrinks back to the size of a village in spring is something the people of Sölden, Obergurgl and Vent find completely normal – and the tourists do not see. In order to run such a seasonal service centre, you need large numbers of mainly young and mobile workers. The Austrian labour market, with its minimum level of unemployment, cannot supply them. So it is people from Germany and the new member states of the EU who respond to the annual rhythm of the Ötz Valley as residents for a season.