Collapse in tourism in the Artic Circle – 75 percent decline

The Artic Circle/North Cape is experiencing a collapse in tourism with a 75 percent decline compared from July last year to July this year.

In July last year, Nordkappklippen had 85,000 visitors. This year, about 19,000 guests stopped by, writes Klassekampen.

The municipality in the far north of Norway is among the country’s most dependent on tourism. The northernmost point of mainland Norway, Nordkappklippen, is a destination for the whole world and had 260,000 guests last year.

– “In a normal year we have 1010 hotel beds available. This year we have 84 in operation,” says director Hans Paul Hansen at Scandic Nordkapp.

Rica Eiendom, which owns the building stock on the Nordkapp plateau, planned investments in the hundreds of millions class, but this has now been postponed.

– “The sharp decline in tourism does not only affect us. A number of suppliers are noticing this. Among them are car rental companies, Tourist experience companies, restaurants and souvenir sellers,” says Hansen.

Northern Norway as a part of the country has generally not flourished in tourism.

– “We do not experience the tourist rush we hear about from Helgeland and Lofoten,” Hansen says.

© NTB Scanpix / #Norway Today