The Chinese have pledged their love for northern Norway

northern NorwayTromsø. Northern Lights.Photo: Rune Stoltz Bertinussen / Scanpix

Chinese tourists have arduously pledged their love for northern Norway

Chinese tourists have arduously pledged their love for northern Norway by increasing their number of overnight stays there during the January to March period from 7,000 to a whopping 17,000 this year.

During March 2017, there were 1.8 million overnight stays at Norwegian hotels. Figures from Statistics Norway (SSB) show that this is 9% more than during the same month last year,.

However, from January to March, the number of overnight stays has decreased by 1%, mainly due to Easter being in April this year.

The number of hotel stopovers actually decreased by 9% on a national basis. But the figures for northern Norway moved in the opposite direction.

The region experienced a formidable 21% increase of foreign visitors from March 2016 to March 2017, totalling 281,379 overnight stays, 48,000 more than during the same month last year.

The explanation is the so-called ‘nordlysturismen’ (Northern Lights tourism).

Tourism Minister, Monica Mæland of Høyre (Conservatives), thinks it is good that the focus has turned to northern tourism.

‘There’s been a high growth in the number of overnight stays in the north for three consecutive years. It’s really good.

The tourists from abroad come especially to experience the beauties of northern Norway. For many people, the northern lights have become one of the great holiday experiences one must have during one’s lifetime’, she said.

 

© NTB Scanpix / Norway Today