And it could have been avoided if, at just one point along the way, someone who cared dug in their heels and yelled until someone important agreed to listen and actually do something.
The idea, apparently, is that lower prices will encourage elegant ladies to sport a chignon one week and a beehive the next, while those down at the heels might decide to have their shoes repaired more frequently.
Nothing not the tacky plastic fun park of Canada's family heaven nor the hard-at-the-heels squalor of New York's economic hell can ruin one of the world's prime natural wonders.
One reason for making an example of Austria is that far-right parties are nipping at the heels of mainstream ones in other Union countries, notably in Belgium.