Beautiful country halts tourism campaign over fears too many people are coming

The Scandinavian nation had considered allowing UK holidaymakers the same freedom to roam its countryside as its own citizens – but has now scrapped the idea due to fears over environmental damage

A European country has stopped its state tourism campaign over fears it’s been too successful.

This summer has been characterised by holiday hotspots across Europe deciding they’ve had enough of the great crowds of tourists. Protesters in Greece and Spain in particular have hit the streets, demanding that fewer holidaymakers come and that they’re protected from the rapidly rising prices of food and accommodation.

Now Norway is getting in on the action, shelving a initiative designed to get people to the country to explore its natural beauty and make the most of its enshrined ‘right to roam’ laws. Allemannsretten a key element in Nordic culture giving everyone the right to freely camp, swim, ski and hike in the wild, irrespective of land ownership. It is enjoyed by Swedes and Norwegians, and is in stark contrast to the legal situation facing ramblers in the UK, where increasingly vast tracts of the countryside are private and out-of-bounds.

Innovation Norway, a company owned by the Norwegian state, had planned to “highlight the part of Norwegian culture that is about using nature” by making outdoor pursuits a focal point of the campaign, encouraging more international visitors to Norway to make the most of allemannsretten.

Now the initiative has been suspended, the Guardian reports, as fears that the country’s idyllic countryside could become overwhelmed and blemished. CEO of Fjord Norway’s tourism board, Stein Ove Rolland, expressed concerns about the campaign.

He said: “We certainly want visitors to enjoy our nature, but we prefer it to happen through well-organised sustainable offerings provided by competent experienced companies within the tourism industry. This is to ensure that our amazing nature can be enjoyed by locals and visitors for decades to come. We believe that marketing outdoor activities to a growing international holiday and leisure market can be risky because it may lead to more people wanting to explore vulnerable natural areas on their own. This can result in wear and tear on nature, increased littering, and could potentially lead to accidents and rescue operations.”

Dag Terje Klarp Solvang, the general secretary of the Norwegian Trekking Association, has highlighted that hiking could be a “very sustainable way of being a tourist”. However, he warned that “Too many people without being prepared can cause great damage to nature and the people living close to the actual spots being highlighted.” Aase Marthe Horrigmo, from Innovation Norway, emphasised: “It is important to encourage tourists to behave responsibly in Norwegian nature. We also want to inspire people to visit our country and discover amazing experiences that will create memories for life.”

Last year it was reported that visitors to one of the most dramatic and breath-taking spots in Norway were being given ‘human waste bags’ thanks to a foul problem that is blighting the area. In the UK, a big rise in the number of dogs over the past ten years (from eight million to 10million) has led to a spike in the blight of animal mess on the country’s pavements and parks – a scourge most canine opponents hoped had been resigned to memories of the 1990s.

In Norway, where the dog population per-capita is far lower, the problem is thanks to people rather than pups. Recent research uncovered a steady and alarming rise in the amount of human excrement left on Lofoten, an archipelago in the north of the country known for its dramatic scenery and peaks like the Svolværgeita pinnacle.

Each year huge numbers of people make the trip to the area to swim in its lakes, climb its mountains and generally breath in the magnificent scenery. Doing so without the fear of stepping in the discarded work of a hiker or gulping down contaminated water is increasingly difficult, according to the scientists at the Norwegian Institute for Natural Research.

Human waste has been found in the gardens of unhappy local, just a few meters away from hiking trails, and even very close to rivers.Currently, people are advised to not drink water from lakes, rivers and streams in Ryten and Kvalvika in Lofoten because of the problem. Rose Keller is a researcher at NINA who has devised a plan to combat the mounting issue.

“You have to understand people’s thought patterns and how they move in nature. Once you know that, we can find out which measures will work and which messages are best suited,” she told NRK. The American, who moved to Norway three years ago, proposed human waste bags, similar to those begrudgingly deployed by dog owners to clean up after their mucky pups.