Longyearbyen. Foto: Frank Andreassen / nordnorge.com

Survey: Tourism on Svalbard - How does it affect you?

Your opinions are important, and we hope you will take the time to contribute your views and experiences.



Svalbard is characterized by change in many areas. Tourism is an important business sector and identified as one of the economic pillars for the islands, and this can mean opportunities as well as challenges. To be sustainable, future tourism needs to pay attention to the environment, the needs and concerns of the local community, as well as support local business development.

In the project "Sustainable Tourism in Svalbard: A Balancing Act", the goal is to strengthen the knowledge base for how the tourism in Svalbard can be developed and create new opportunities within a sustainable framework. This is a cooperative project between Nordland Research Institute, The Norwegian Institute for Nature Research, and the tourism actors Visit Svalbard and AECO. It is funded by the Norwegian Research Council.

An important part of defining the action space for tourism is having sound and adequate knowledge about local attitudes toward tourism. The results of this survey will be used in shaping future tourism in Svalbard.


Questions? Contact:

Bjørn Kaltenborn
Senior Research Scientist
Norwegian Institute for Nature Research
934 66 707
bjorn.kaltenborn@nina.no