The local tou­rism asso­cia­ti­on Sval­bard Rei­se­livs­råd has excluded Trust Arc­ti­cu­gol from its mem­bers. This was deci­ded today (12 Octo­ber) during a board mee­ting.

Trust Arc­ti­cu­gol is a com­pa­ny owned by the Rus­si­an sta­te. The Trust owns and runs Barents­burg and all acti­vi­ties the­re, inclu­ding tou­rism.

Trust Arc­ti­cu­gol, here in Pyra­mi­den: excluded from Sval­bard Rei­se­livs­råd and Visit Sval­bard.

One con­se­quence is that the offe­rings of Goarc­ti­ca, the Trust’s daugh­ter com­pa­ny for tou­rims, are not available any­mo­re on Visit Sval­bard, an important boo­king plat­form for local tour ope­ra­tors.

The reason is the Rus­si­an war of aggres­si­on in and against the Ukrai­ne. Chair­man Ron­ny Strøm­nes poin­ted out that it was not pos­si­ble any­mo­re to remain pas­si­ve, con­side­ring the Rus­si­an inva­si­on and seve­re vio­la­ti­ons of public inter­na­tio­nal law and human rights. Strøm­nes empha­si­zed that today’s decis­i­on is direc­ted against the Rus­si­an govern­ment and not against the peo­p­le in Barents­burg. He expres­sed hope that the future deve­lo­p­ment will make nor­mal rela­ti­onships pos­si­ble again, inclu­ding a rene­wed mem­ber­ship of Trust Arc­ti­cu­gol in Sval­bard Rei­se­livs­råd.

Goarc­ti­ca, the Trust’s tou­rism branch, published a video on social media show­ing how the lights are being tur­ned off in various loca­ti­ons in Barents­burg.