Winter tourists spend three times more money than summer tourists, a tour operator in Norway says. The Arctic countries all have active tourism and are constantly marketing winter tourism as an alternative for the summer period.
“Hotels in Northern Norway now have a higher number of filled beds in winter time than in summer. That is because the region offers what few other destinations can; a mix of winter and ocean. Only the Barents region, Alaska and Iceland are competing for tourists looking for experiences like these”, says Morten Torp from Vinter Troms AS.
Iceland has seen a big increase in winter tourism with specialized northern lights trips increasingly popular.
In Norway, Espen Berelsen sees that tourist are willing to pay a higher premium for experiences out of the ordinary. An example Bertelsen often uses; “Who wouldn’t want to come home to their friends and family and tell about the great combination of beautiful sailings along the coast of Lofoten and skiing down the Lyngen Alps toward the clean Arctic fjords? People will pay a premium for an experience like that.”
Alaska has also utilized its oil history for tourism as well as the ice road truckers. Alaska offers northern lights experiences like Iceland and Norway.
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