Will count tourists in Spitzbergen

Hotel statistics will from 2010 include Svalbard in their figures for the first time.

Every month the Norwegian Statistics Office publish the number of hotel stays for each county in Norway, but up until now Svalbard in Spitzbergen has not been included in the figures.

Six hotels

There are still data and criteria which have to be fulfilled for the six current hotels in Svalbard to be included in the statistics.

The Norwegian Statistical office hopes the first figures can be published in March 2010.

Growing interest in Spitzbergen

Spitzbergen is still a small tourist destination, and has so far mostly attracted Norwegian tourists.

But the Arctic and its exotic nature is appealing more and more to intrepid travellers around the world, who wants a different experience and a chance to see glaciers, northern lights and polar bears.

A survey from 2008 showed there were around 89,000 hotel nights in Longyearbyen, writes Reiselivsavisen.no.