Nearly 310,000 people went up to Preikestolen (Pulpit Rock ) in Rogaland during the summer. Never before have so many people visited the popular mountain plateau.
In comparison, about 289,000 climbed up Preikestolen during the same time period last year, according to NRK.
Every year the number of visitors increases, and in the last ten years the number of visitors have increased by 147 percent.
In the past, the huge increase in the number of visitors has attracted criticism, including from the Nature Conservation Association, which believes that “Preikestolen is about to become an overwhelming tourist magnet”.
In a survey of the visitors, 22.5 percent say that they think too many people go up to Preikestolen at one time, while 85 percent state that they had a good or very good experience.
“We are concerned about the experience and how much we can withstand. I think we have to accept that 20 percent think there are too many people, but we also have to work to keep the 85 percent happy,” says general manager Helge Kjellevold in the Foundation Preikestolen to NRK.
Of those who visited Preikestolen this summer, 24 percent were from Germany. In second place were Norwegians, while Spanish tourists came in third place.
© NTB Scanpix / #Norway Today
