Academic Journal of Humanities & Social Sciences

ISSN 2616-5783 Vol.4, Issue 10: 31-33, DOI: 10.25236/AJHSS.2021.041008

A Brief Introduction to Norway's Tourism Status

Jinyi Hu
Department of International Tourism, Hainan University, Hainan, China
[email protected]

Abstract: Norway, as a country with better tourism development in Europe, has important reference
significance to analyze its tourism status. This paper mainly analyzes and sorts out the current situation
and advantages and disadvantages of Norway's tourism industry. As a country with rich tourism
resources, Norway's tourism industry has a high proportion in providing economic output value and
employment opportunities. Combining the geographical location and human geography of Norway, we
can analyze the advantages of Norway in tourism. Through a large number of analysis of Norwegian
tourism related data to show the status of Norway's tourism development, combined with experts and
literature on Norway's tourism prospects, such as rich natural resources and good destination marketing.
This paper also studies and discusses the disadvantages of Norway's tourism development, especially the
contradiction between environmental pollution and economic development.

Keywords: Norway, tourism status, geography

1. Country overview

1.1. Location

Norway, located in northern Scandinavia in the northwest, west of the Norwegian Sea, and Denmark
across the sea. It covers an area of 385,155 square meters, including Svalbard Islands, Jan Mayen Island
and other dependencies. It is located in the western part of Scandinavia, east to Sweden, northeast to
Finland and Russia, south to Denmark across the sea, west to the Norwegian Sea (Huang, 1986).

1.2. Physical geography

Norway is a long and narrow mountain country from the north to the south. The Scandinavian
mountains run through the whole territory. Plateaus, mountains and glaciers account for more than 2/3
of the whole territoryand takes natural resources as the pillar of tourism(Mei, 2003).. Norway is also one
of the world's important maritime countries, its coastline twists and turns, offshore islands up to more
than 150,000, is not only an excellent port, but also a scenic tourist area. Most of Norway is a temperate
maritime climate, the interior mountain climate is cold (Prebensen, 2012).

1.3. Cultural geography

Norway has a total population of 5.35 million as of October 2020. 96% are Norwegian. There are
about 30,000 Sami, mainly in the north.
The Sami people, also known as the Lapps. The Sami people have a rich national culture, speaking
seven different dialects, and occupy 40% of the land in Norway. About 8% of Norway's Sami people still
feed on reindeer. There is also the idea that the Sami were a reindeer race.
The official language of Norway is Norwegian, and the common language is English. Norway has
two similar official languages that are taught in schools. Bokmal is the main language, spoken by 80%
of the population. The other language is New Norwegian, which is rarely spoken today (Huang, 1986).
The most distinctive ethnic feature of Norway is the Viking culture. Norway flourished during the
heyday of the Vikings. Norwegians, on the other hand, are very artistic. There are many music festivals
here every year, among which jazz and black metal music are very popular. There are many festivals in
Norway every year. There are more than 900 festivals in Norway.

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 Academic Journal of Humanities & Social Sciences
ISSN 2616-5783 Vol.4, Issue 10: 31-33, DOI: 10.25236/AJHSS.2021.041008

1.4. Economy

Norway is a highly developed industrial country and one of the top ten economies in Europe. GDP
per capita is the highest in Northern Europe (Huang, 1986). Norway has been an emerging oil and gas
producer since the 1990s, overtaking Britain in oil and gas production. The oil and gas produced by the
North Sea oilfield are not only for domestic consumption, but also for export in large quantities. Many
new pipelines, oil terminals and oil ports have been built in areas where the main fields of the North Sea
are concentrated.

2. Tourism Statistics

Norway's tourism statistics, after a large amount of data search and screening, finally confirmed the
number of the Norway international entry in the past: by definition, international arrivals (overnight
visitors) is to point to to a very live, but living environment outside the national tourism not more than
12 months the number of tourists, and the purpose of tourism is not paid from visiting countries. In 2019,
Norway received 5,879,000 international tourist arrivals, an increase of 3.36% over the previous year.
Norway's main inbound market is dominated by visitors from other member states of the European Union,
as well as visitors from other parts of the world.
Meanwhile, according to the statistics, Norway's tourism income reached 7B US dollars. Tourism
accounted for 4.7 per cent of total exports.
Norway's current tourism mode is mainly combined with natural scenic spots. As Norway is a country
rich in natural resources, it has a unique climate and different natural landscapes, so the development of
tourism mostly depends on its own natural resources.
According to Kseniia N Kikkas, Norway has a future in tourism to the Arctic. Because the Arctic is
currently a little-known region, even in the 21st century, this makes Arctic tourism a promising part of
economic development for any country near the polar circle. Kseniia N Kikkas also sees Arctic tourism
as a tourism project, as a source of income for the northern region, especially the indigenous people there,
and as an opportunity to develop Norway's local economy (2021).

3. Importance of tourism in the country

Norway has a very rich tourism resources, the development of tourism is good. The annual output
value of tourism accounts for about 4 percent of the GDP and about 7 percent of its employees. The main
domestic tourist attractions are Oslo, Bergen, Leros, North Point and other places. It can be seen that
tourism in Norway plays a very large role in the national economy, especially it provides 7% of the
related industries, which means that tourism provides employment opportunities and life security for 7%
of the country's citizens (2019).
Regarding Norway's international tourism revenue, statistics show that in 2017, tourism revenue was
$6,840 million. By 2018, Norway's international tourism revenue reached $7,096,000,000, an increase
of 3.74% from the previous year, despite a decrease of 2.35% in 2019. But it still took in $6,929m. That's
four percent of Norway's gross domestic product (2019).
Tourism also promotes cultural exchanges and development between Norway and the rest of Europe
to some extent. The importance of tourism to Norway is evident both economically and culturally.

4. Destination marketing

As the government department of tourism management, the National Tourism Board of Norway plays
a large role in the development of tourism in Norway. In terms of publicity in China, for example, the
Norwegian National Tourism Board has established exclusive accounts on several influential social
media in China, promoting the advantages of Norway as a tourist destination for a long time.
Marketing has played a key role in Norway's emergence as a tourist destination. Take the official
website of the Norwegian Tourism Board for example. The website is beautifully produced and promotes
the tourist attractions of Norway, as well as the local traditional food. The site is advertised in multiple
languages, allowing visitors from all over the world to choose and switch. These are all key reasons for
Norway's popularity as a tourist destination.

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 Academic Journal of Humanities & Social Sciences
ISSN 2616-5783 Vol.4, Issue 10: 31-33, DOI: 10.25236/AJHSS.2021.041008

5. Tourism development for the country

5.1. Potentials

Arctic tourism has become popular in Asia in the past decade. The largest number of tourists are from
China, followed by South Korea, while the number of Japanese visitors has declined in recent years. As
a country located near the Arctic Circle, the development of Arctic tourism is one of Norway's future
potentials (Kikkas, Sosnina & Rubtsova, 2021). First of all, Norway is close to the Arctic Circle and has
the advantage of physical geography. Second, a third of Norway is in the Arctic Circle, which attracts
thousands of tourists to watch the "midnight sun" during the daytime. Finally, Norway is a country with
natural resource attractions as the main type of tourism, and the unique scenery and natural environment
of the Arctic will attract more tourists to Norway.
Norway's air and water quality are excellent, the country is covered with lush forests, and its
thousands of rivers are home to a wide variety of fish (Mei, 2003). At the same time, the climate of
Norway is affected by the North Atlantic Current, which is warmer than other areas of the same latitude.
The summer is cool and wet, and the winter is mild and snowy. All these are excellent conditions for the
development of ecotourism. Today, with the gradual development of green tourism and ecotourism,
Norway can definitely develop ecotourism and develop tourism while protecting the environment
(Stokke, & Haukeland, 2018).

5.2. Challenges

Norway is a country with oil and natural gas resources as the main economic industry. In the process
of exploiting oil and natural gas resources, it will inevitably cause some pollution, which is a great
challenge for Norway (Mei, 2003). How to rationally exploit the oil resources while protecting the natural
environment is a problem that the Norwegian Tourism Board needs to consider.
In recent years, with the arrival of a large number of foreign tourists, natural resources have become
commodities, and the original balance pattern of coexistence between man and nature has been broken.
An extreme case is the "Berry-picking War" in Finland, where Thai laborers, driven by economic interests,
used berries as a means of making money, undermining the social consensus on picking and even
damaging the plants. Eventually, the locals clashed with the outsiders. There are also problems with
whale-watching Tours. For example, too many boats can interfere with whale activities, including tour
boats, canoes, private yachts, fishing boats, research boats, and people swimming. However, there are no
relevant regulations. So Giovanna Bertella, in discussion with a group of researchers, has drawn up
"guidelines for whale-watching" for tour groups and tourists to consider. It includes details on how to
control the number of ships, ways to avoid disturbing whales, and safe distances for whale watching.
Although not mandatory, they hope to call on the government to provide more services and more tourism
management.

References

[1] Huang Kunfang. (1986). Archives in the Kingdom of Norway. Archives Management (02), 40-41.
[2] Kikkas, K. N., Sosnina, M. N., & Rubtsova, A. V.. (2021). Arctic tourism development: comparative
study of Murmansk region and Norway. IOP Conference Series Earth and Environmental Science, 625,
012002.
[3] Mei Haolin. (2003). Enjoy the natural gift of tourism in Norway. Information on International
Technology Trade Market, 000(004), 66-68.
[4] Prebensen, Nina, K, Tkaczynski, & Aaron. (2012). Domestic nature-based tourism: a case study of
Norway. Tourism Analysis.
[5] Stokke, K. B., & Haukeland, J. V.. (2018). Balancing tourism development and nature protection
across national park borders – a case study of a coastal protected area in norway. Journal of
Environmental Planning and Management, 61.
[6] Thrane, C., & Farstad, E. (2012). Nationality as a Segmentation Criterion in Tourism Research: The
Case of International Tourists' Expenditures While on Trips in Norway:. Tourism Economics, 18(1), 203-
217.
[7] World Data Atlas. (2019, December 31). Retrieved June 23, 2021, from: https://cn.knoema.com/atlas

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