Large interest for holidays in Northern Norway

Today’s seminar on tourism was part of the program for a large delegation from Troms County that is visiting St. Petersburg these days.

The number of Russian tourists to Northern Norway has increased considerably in course of the last years. In 2009 the overall number of Russians to Norway went down 9 percent, but in the northernmost parts of the country there was a slight increase, as BarentsObserver reported. Wildlife, skiing, deep sea fishing and adventure holidays are some of the things that attract Russians.

Eight companies from Troms presented their services – resorts, restaurants, hotels and adventure holiday organizers.

The idyllic Målselv in Troms County is of the places in Northern Norway that is experiencing that more and more Russians want to fill their holiday with other things than sun and beach.

- The Russian market is very important for us, says Morten Torp, Director of sales and marketing in Målselv Fjellandsby. – Murmansk is still our biggest Russian market, but we hope that also people from the St. Petersburg area will discover what we have to offer. That is why we are here in St. Petersburg today, he adds.

According to Torp, people from Murmansk have started buying plots and building their own cottages in Målselv. —Six-seven private individuals have already bought plots and are now having Finnish-made cottages put up there. The Russian landowners plan to rent out the cottages to other Russians.

The resort organizes bus trips from Murmansk to Målselv during the Russian New Year’s holidays. The hope for the future is to be able to open a charter route from Murmansk and to use Murmansk as a hub for tourists from regions further south in Russia, Torp says.

The area around Målselv has gone through a tremendous change in course of the last years and now offers amongst other things a ski resort, the Blånisseland adventure park and an Arctic wildlife zoo.