The strict rules for ship-based tou­rism in Nor­way inclu­ding Spits­ber­gen will remain in force until at least end of April, accor­ding to an offi­ci­al press release by the Nor­we­gi­an govern­ment.

Most ship owners and tour ope­ra­tors had to can­cel their arc­tic sea­son in 2020 com­ple­te­ly. Only a few crui­ses were actual­ly car­ri­ed out, for exam­p­le by the Cape Race, the Ori­go and the Le Bore­al, with strict hygie­ne mea­su­res. This was, in the­se cases, done suc­cessful­ly wit­hout any cases of Coro­na (Sars­Cov-2, Covid19) on board. The coro­na out­break on the Hur­tig­ru­ten ship Roald Amund­sen, howe­ver, shows that it is dif­fi­cult to achie­ve abso­lu­te safe­ty.

Rest­ric­tions include a com­ple­te ban on lar­ger ships and a reduc­tion of the pas­sen­ger capa­ci­ty to 50 %, some­thing that makes ope­ra­ti­on eco­no­mic­al­ly impos­si­ble for many com­pa­nies. The­se and other rest­ric­tions (see Lovdata.no (Nor­we­gi­an) for all details) remain in force during the spring, as could be expec­ted.

The Ori­go: one of a few ships that actual­ly did some crui­ses in Spits­ber­gen in 2020.

The Nor­we­gi­an govern­ment has announ­ced to moni­tor the situa­ti­on and to make a decis­i­on until 01 May about exten­ding the rest­ric­tions or modi­fy­ing them as appro­pria­te.

Gene­ral rest­ric­tions on inter­na­tio­nal tra­vel­ling as well as the new requi­re­ments for coro­na test­ing befo­re tra­vel­ling from main­land Nor­way to Spits­ber­gen remain in force.