The best ski destination
Photo: Wikimedia Commons/Charlesjsharp
Norway wins at the National Geographic Traveller Awards in the category “Best Ski Destination 2011.”
It won’t be long until skiing and snowboarding is back, and the swishing sounds of raw powder in the beautiful Norwegian mountains are not far away. And it is not only Norwegians who love Norwegian winter adventures. Norway has been voted the best ski destination in 2011 by National Geographic.
It was during the National Geographic Traveler Awards 2011 in Russia that Norway won in the category “Best Ski Destination 2011”.
The award is created by the Russians on National Geographic’s Russian Internet sites. The winners were announced at the tourism fair Leisure2011.
“This is a great honor and great feedback on our work in Russia. Russia is a growing market, and this illustrates that the Russians have really opened their eyes to the diverse services that Norway has to offer the skier,” says Per-Arne Tuftin, tourism director of Innovation Norway.
He believes this award is proof that Norway as a destination is winning a greater foothold in the Russian market, and that this is the result of hard and targeted marketing efforts. The fact that National Geographic is behind the award weighs heavily.
“What we know is that National Geographic is one of the most serious travel magazines in the world, and created in many different languages, including Russian. Statistics show that we have had a tremendous growth of Russians coming to Norway,” says head of the department of tourism at Innovation Norway, Audun Pettersen.
According to Pettersen, Russian visitors use a lot of money in Norway and prefer to travel when there is little other traffic. But they are not only concerned with pure ski resorts like Hemsedal and Trysil. Equally important for the Russians is to take in natural phenomena like the northern lights and for example the exotic “king crab safari.”
“It is relatively easy to get to Norway, and also around in Norway. We also offer unique winter experiences in relation to our neighboring countries,” says Pettersen.
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