
Norway at its Limit: Tourists Flood the North
Norway logged almost 38.6 million overnight stays in 2024, and this DW report follows the towns absorbing that number. In Stavanger, campsite owner Per Arne Haarr turns visitors away once he fills up, while a German family, Robert, Yvonne, and their son Paul, arrives early hoping to find a spot on their second trip to the country. Up to three cruise ships dock at once in the harbor, and residents in the old town describe the noise, the blocked views, and the damage to historic facades. Forty minutes away at Preikestolen, hikers queue for a photo at the edge of a cliff that drops 604 meters into the fjord. In Bergen, Bryggen Foundation director Bernt Hårvard Øyen talks about crowd control measures being debated for the UNESCO-listed harbor district, where July crowds make walking difficult. The film also visits the small fjord town of Flåm, where residents weigh what tourism has brought against what it has cost them.