New Environmental Tax in Svalbard

The Norwegian government has introduced an "environmental fee" for everyone who travels to Svalbard (Spitsbergen) having booked after 01 April. The Svalbard Environmental Protection Fund capital will finance the protection of the environment and will mainly be utilised for care and maintenance, repair of environmental damage and for research into the state of the environment. Fund capital may also be used for information, training and organisational initiatives with priority being given to projects concerned with sustainable tourism.

The new tax will be collected by the airline company on the flight ticket from Svalbard or from the ship's operator if the visitor is leaving by sea. In essence this means that in future the cost of a holiday to Spitsbergen will increase by the small sum of €18. Not significant in the whole scheme of things and another way of contributing to responsible tourism.

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