A billion kroner to the tourism industry

A recent survey of public funds used for development of tourism industry in Norway, shows that  the public sector allocated one billion Norwegian kroner to the tourism industry in 2007.

The survey was conducted by Oxford Research on assignment from the Ministry of Trade and Industry.

- This is part of the follow-up of the national tourism strategy we launched in 2007. For the first time we now have a total overview of what is used by public funds for the tourism industry in Norway. This provides a good starting point for discussions about how we best align efforts so that public funds will benefit the tourism industry in the best possible way, said political adviser Fride Solbakken in the Ministry of Trade and Industry.

There has been a steady increase in public spending on travel and tourism industry in recent years, from 694 million in 2004 to 1.09 billion in 2007. In other words, public spending on tourism increased by 56 percent in the period.

The promotion of  Norway as a travel destination, nationally and regionally, got the most funding - about 318 million Norwegian kroner in 2007.