From a young age, children in the Scandinavian country of 5 million people are taught that “there is no such thing as bad weather, only bad clothes”. Parents take endless walks in the woods with their babies, cross snowy landscapes on skis, go out to pick mushrooms and blueberries.
They could easily run into hordes of tourists, but it’s something they exorcise. In a move perhaps unprecedented in world history, the Labor government of Jonas Gar Stere canceled the tourism campaign he had planned to attract more tourists to the beautiful Norwegian nature. Whoever listens to the social pulse understands that the majority prefers to quietly enjoy their country while protecting its environment, than to attract more tourists with their swag.
At school we learned about the breathtaking beauty of the Norwegian fjords. But the jewel in the crown is the Lofoten island complex, with its winter northern lights and summer midnight sun. Between 2022 and 2023, foreign tourist visits to the region increased by 15%, while this summer the roads in some places were… congested. The Norwegians were horrified to find that the Europeans had discovered Lofoten, where they can go in their cars from the Danish-Swedish bridge to Öresund.
The tourism boom in Norway has been helped by the recently launched direct flights from major Western European cities (London, Amsterdam) to the so-called “Paris of the North”, near Tromsø. In addition, more and more Americans and Europeans are visiting Norway because it has become cheaper than in the past due to the exchange rate of the krona.
Its biggest asset, however, is that in an overheated world, with heatwaves, droughts and fires, it remains an oasis of coolness with a small and sparse population, on a vast area. In Norway it is impossible to meet the crowds of Venice, Barcelona, Santorini.
In any case, it is almost unlikely that the Nordic country will be charged an entry “tourist tax”, such as e.g. the 5 euros of Venice. Although they belong to NATO and border Russia, the Norwegians prefer… mild tourism deterrence measures. One of them was the withdrawal of the posters prepared by the tourism office of Western Norway to advertise the region abroad.
Thanks to the Generation Solidarity Fund’s huge revenues from North Atlantic oil, Norway is one of the few countries in the world that can afford to “kick out” tourists en masse. However, foreigners will still have access to the free camping that applies in the Norwegian countryside, not only on public land, but even inside private properties, for a maximum of two days! The only condition is that the tent is at least 150 meters from houses.
The only counterargument to the “anti-tourism” policy comes from those who argue that the Norwegian economy should be differentiated from energy “monoculture”. Also, with tourism revenues, the growing child poverty (especially in immigrant families) that affects 1 in 10 children in the country could be combated.
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