Norway is a stunning country offering amazing landscapes, a rich history and quaint towns.
The Scandinavian country is a paradise in particular for nature lovers, as it boasts soaring snowy mountains, outstanding fjords, and beautiful beaches.
In Norway, people can become one with nature by hiking, kayaking, following one of its many trails or just observing in awe the Northern Lights.
In recent years, the beauty of the country paired with low-cost flights has contributed to a boom in international tourism.
Data from Statistics Norway show that the number of guest nights at hotels and other tourist establishments rose by 33 percent from 2021 to 2022, returning to pre-pandemic levels.
The number of foreign guest nights alone recorded in 2022 was more than 9.8 million, to be added to the 26,313,965 Norwegian guest nights.
The rise in tourism has benefitted the Norwegian economy but also created issues for locals, who now have to cohabit with a large influx of tourists increasing the country’s carbon footprint, using resources and filling up their streets, trails and paths.
One issue reported in some areas is that the number of services – including toilets and bins – available across the most popular paths and hiking trails are not always able to accommodate the increased number of visitors.
But this massive wave of tourists, which in recent years has been addressed by many nations as over tourism, also risks threatening one of Norway’s core beliefs – allemannsretten, or the freedom to roam.
An ancient government policy states that people, as long as they observe the law, can legally walk through any piece of undeveloped land and camp there for one night without asking for the owner’s permission.
While it survived for hundreds of years, allemannsretten is now being put at risk by increased littering, human waste and crowding prompted by areas made famous by social media and influencers.
Speaking to Outside Online in 2019, Ingunn Sornes, the special adviser to sustainable tourism for Innovation Norway, said: “It is a major issue for Norwegian politicians, tourism, and Norwegian NGOs to keep the right-to-roam policy intact. This will demand a well-planned and well-informed integrated approach to local tourism management.”
The Norwegian government reacted to the plight of locals by investing nearly £29million in 2019 alone in sustainable tourism.
The idea of a tourist tax to place some of the burden back on visitors’ shoulders started to gain traction in 2022, and in 2023 Norway announced its decision to trial this fee in Lofoten – an archipelago known for its dramatic scenery that has been flooded with tourists in recent years.
