Pro­mi­nent visi­tors to the ice

Spits­ber­gen has had a lar­ger num­ber of pro­mi­nent visi­tors in June and July. In late June, mem­bers of the three Scan­di­na­vi­an roy­al fami­lies went on a crui­se into the ice on board the Swe­dish ice­brea­ker Oden, and minis­ters of a num­ber of coun­tries visi­ted Lon­gye­ar­by­en and Ny Åle­sund to meet col­leagues and to dis­cuss issu­es inclu­ding cli­ma­te chan­ge. The seed vault near Lon­gye­ar­by­en, ope­ned ear­lier this year, was also high on the wish­list, but the doors usual­ly remain clo­sed, even for high-ran­king visi­tors such as for­mer US-pre­si­dent Jim­my Car­ter, who wan­ted to visit the seed vault in ear­ly July tog­e­ther with CNN-chef Ted Tur­ner, mul­ti­mil­lion­aire Geor­ge Soros and Goog­le foun­der Lar­ry Page.

Accord­ing to the local news­pa­per Sval­bards­pos­ten, 76% of the local popu­la­ti­on con­si­der pro­mi­nent visi­tors unim­portant.