Nor­way expands tra­vel rest­ric­tions; tou­rism in Lon­gye­ar­by­en behind expec­ta­ti­ons

The Nor­we­gi­an govern­ment has made a cou­ple of signi­fi­cant chan­ges to the exis­ting tra­vel rest­ric­tions due to the incre­asing num­ber of posi­ti­ve Coro­na-cases in many Euro­pean count­ries. More tou­rists will have to stay in qua­ran­ti­ne upon ente­ring the coun­try (if they still deci­de to come at all). At the same time, the govern­ment reminds all Nor­we­gi­ans that tra­vel­ling to any for­eign coun­try is not advi­sed unless neces­sa­ry. This tra­vel war­ning is expec­ted to remain in force until at least 01 Octo­ber.

The cate­go­ry “green” does not occur any­mo­re in the list of Euro­pean count­ries published and regu­lar­ly updated by the Fol­ke­hels­e­insti­tutt (insti­tu­te for public health). Ins­tead, count­ries are shown in yel­low. Accor­ding to prime minis­ter Erna Sol­berg, this is to pre­vent misun­derstan­dings and to make clear that the­re is always an inher­ent risk to tra­vel­ling, so Nor­we­gi­ans are advi­sed to stay in the coun­try as much as pos­si­ble. For non-Nor­we­gi­an tou­rists, the cate­go­ry “yel­low” is prac­ti­cal­ly what “green” used to be befo­re: tou­rists from the­se count­ries and regi­ons may enter Nor­way wit­hout qua­ran­ti­ne.

Nor­we­gi­an “Coro­na-map” for Euro­pe as of 12 August 2020. © Fol­ke­hels­e­insti­tuttet.

But also bey­ond colou­ring, the most recent ver­si­on of Norway’s “Coro­na map for Euro­pe” has chan­ged signi­fi­cant­ly com­pared to pre­vious ver­si­ons. The­re is a lar­ger num­ber of count­ries now in red, mea­ning that tou­rists from the­se count­ries will have to stay in qua­ran­ti­ne for 10 days upon ente­ring the coun­try. Qua­ran­ti­ne has to be in one address on the main­land (not Sval­bard). The latest map now shows count­ries such as France, the Net­her­lands and Ice­land in red. “Hat­ched” count­ries are tho­se were infor­ma­ti­on is con­side­red insuf­fi­ci­ent or unre­lia­ble; also here, tou­rists have to stay in qua­ran­ti­ne for 10 days upon ente­ring Nor­way.

The new map, as shown here, will be in force from 15 August. It will be updated after 14 days or ear­lier if nee­ded.

Dif­fe­rent rules app­ly for tra­vel­lers with a back­ground other than tou­rism.

As had to be expec­ted, tou­rism has lar­ge­ly col­lap­sed also in Spits­ber­gen. In June, the total num­ber of tou­rists was 85 % less than in June 2019. In July, the quo­te increased to 50 % due to a lar­ger num­ber of Nor­we­gi­ans taking the oppor­tu­ni­ty for a trip to Sval­bard. In total num­bers, this means that 3448 tou­rists came in July, com­pared to 8789 in July 2019. The capa­ci­ty use of the hotels was 35 %, in con­trast to 77 % one year ear­lier, accor­ding to Sval­bard­pos­ten based on sta­tis­tics by Visit Sval­bard.

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