Known for everything from the midnight sun and Aurora borealis to its fjords and the northern villages that inspired the setting of the Disney movie “Frozen,” the Scandinavian nation of Norway is currently in the middle of a tourism boom unseen throughout its history.
The 6.2 million international visitors that came to Norway in 2024 represent a 10% jump from 2024 and a number higher than its permanent population of 5.5 million people.
Smaller cities such as Tromsø and Bodø as well as remote areas like the Lofoten Islands have also seen tourist numbers that significantly surpass the local population.
But as tourists descend upon particularly remote destinations like the Lofoten Islands, local infrastructure is not always equipped to handle the needs of large numbers of people.
During the summers of 2023 and 2024, multiple Norwegian outlets reported incidents of local residents either catching or discovering that a tourist had defecated in their private yard or garden.
As many of the beaches and hikes for which the islands are known can be miles away from each other with no stops in between, visitors who had not planned their journeys have been pulling into what they thought was woodland to satisfy bodily needs.
“S**tting in gardens” and the effect of mass tourism on Norway (some locals have had enough)
“I don’t really want to pick those currants,” Kai Odd Lorentzen, who lives in Ramberg on the Flakstadøya island and has caught tourists going to the bathroom in his yard several times last July, described to a local journalist. “I’ve also had to close down strawberry fields. I lose my appetite when I don’t know what they are doing while I’m on the road.”
Amid several such stories in different parts of the Lofoten Islands being reported over the last year, Norwegians came up with the catchphrase “s**tting in gardens” to refer to the wider problem of unsustainable mass tourism and its effect on the country.
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The Lofoten archipelago is home to a permanent population of between 24,000 and 25,000 people, while the number of both domestic and international visitors to the area has been estimated to surpass one million in 2024.
Other impacts of this growing tourist interest in Norway and some of its most remote regions in particular include soil erosion at particular popular sites, pollution from the greater car traffic, and accumulating litter due to the low numbers of local workers available to remove it.
Image source: Shutterstock
Lofoten homeowners: “Many campers resort to utilizing the surrounding area as their restroom”
Solutions to these problems are complex and in a constant push-and-pull with the economic benefits that tourism brings.
Still, some local residents are reminding tourists traveling to remote parts of the country to plan trips in a way that they are not tempted to use a bush or somebody’s private yard when they need to go to the bathroom. Should there be an emergency, travelers are urged to at least bring waste bags.
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“It’s not surprising that as more people visit Lofoten, there is an increase in human feces along the hiking trails in (not only) in Lofotodden national park,” Ivar and Radka, local guest house owners and the couple behind the popular Guide To Lofoten blog, wrote on their website.
“[…] However, due to the lack of facilities on the beach, many campers resort to utilizing the surrounding area as their restroom.”
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