Norway counts on the growth of an organized tourist flow from Russia

According to statistics of the border service of the Russian Federal Security Service, in 2017 the flow of tourists from Russia to Norway has grown by 8.9%. In 2018 Norway authorities plan to increase the number of Russian tourists by 15-20%. The number of trips of Russian tourists to Norway has increased from 127, 5 thousand in 2016 to 138, 9 thousand in 2017, or by 8.9%. According to official data of the Tourist Board of Norway “VisitNorway”, the Russians spent 124 thousand nights in Norway, which exceeded the results of 2016 by 17%. The Russians actively visited the northern country in the summer months: the number of night stays for this period increased by 24% (almost 81 thousand nights). The Russian market also has good indicators for the winter season: in November 2017 the number of night stays grew by 35% against the same month in 2016, in December the dynamics was even greater (+ 42%). “VisitNorway” wants to increase the share of organized tourists inside the Russian tourist traffic for account of the growth of number of travelers from the regions. So this year, several activities are planned to promote the Norwegian tourist product in the regions. Russian tourists will be offered a trip to Norwegian fjords not only in the summer season, but also in winter. Norway at the state level develops a program to promote the fjords as a year-round destination. This project will also affect the Russian market: it is planned to conduct a familiarization tour for Russian tour operators to the Fjords region in the beginning of autumn.