According to a German proverb, he who travels has something to tell. In Norway, a journey on the National Tourist Routes gives tourists some excellent stories to tell about the most beautiful drives in the world.
Not unexpectedly it was in the home of the car, the USA, that Scenic Byways were first launched. These are drives through scenic landscape as an alternative to the press and rush of the freeway. In Germany tourists can enjoy the cultural delights of Romantische Strasse and Burgenstrasse. Scotland has its Malt Whiskey Trail. France offers the Chemin
de Baroque and Route de Vin. In Denmark you can take a detour along the Margarittroads.
After almost 20 years of planning, development and building, Norway’s National
Tourist Routes will be marketed as a ombined
attraction from 2012. At their heart is a unique driving experience in unique natural surroundings. Tourists will realise their expectations of finding the true experience
of mountain, fjord, moorland and coast along the way. As well as a taste of our own time, in the form of modern architecture and increasingly also contemporary art.
Tourism is one of the world’s fastest growing
industries. In Norway, tourism is the third largest industry after fish and oil. But Norway is losing ground in the international competition for tourists. One element of the Norwegian Government’s tourism policy is the development of the National Tourist Routes. The aim is to attract more tourists to stay longer and thus help strengthen industry and habitation in rural districts.
Quality
The vital prerequisite for the National Tourist Route project is quality, not just in the form of pure, undisturbed natural surroundings, but in buildings and facilities as well. Driving the tourist routes should provide an alternative to the main roads, with activities and attractions to increase the experience. It should also provide a good service.
The quality of buildings and facilities is assured by employing skilled professionals
at every stage from first sketch to laying the
final stone. Architects both young and experienced have been involved in working
out the best solutions as part of a profes-sional team. An architectural council was set up to refine and develop the ideas into a final result with the emphasis on quality.
The Norwegian Public Roads Administration
put together an architectural council of experienced consultants in the fields of architecture, landscape architecture and art. This kind of dedicated architectural council has previously been used for other major national projects such as the main Oslo Airport at Gardermoen and the winter
Olympics in Lillehammer. In encouraging
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young architects and developing the architectural council, the Norwegian Public Roads Administration, the National Tourist Routes are making an important contribution to the renewal and development of Norwegian architecture.
From trial project to determined effort
The Norwegian Public Roads Administration
started work on the National Tourist Routes in the early 1990s. To begin with, this was a trial project with four stretches of road. In 1998 the Storting and the Ministry of transport decided to recommend increased commitment, which has been followed up since in the annual budgets, national transport plans and the Government’s tourism strategy.
The Public Roads Administration invited input from all quarters on potential Norwegian tourist routes. 52 proposals came in, covering 8,500 kilometres of road. After several rounds of discussion, these were honed down to 18 stretches of road totalling 1,660 kilometres that displayed suitable uniqueness and identity. Up until 2011 the National Tourist Route project will be developing unique stopping points on these roads, as well as tourist information all along the eighteen routes. The aim is to be able to market the tourist routes as a distinct national tourist attraction from 2012, with its own exclusive logo. The tourist routes will continue to be developed until 2015, so that they represent a clear and attractive tourist product of world
class.
Signs of our times
The Norwegian Public Roads Administration
is using the National Tourist Routes
as a mean of leaving a mark of our own
times. The project has entered a productive
phase with many spectacular and award
winning pieces of construction. The tourist
routes have given a real boost to Norwegian
architecture. |
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The combination of the best of Norwegian
architecture and the most beautiful of Norwegian nature has attracted a great
deal of attention in Norway, and indeed
internationally. In partnership with the design organisation Norsk Form and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, the Norwegian Public Roads Administration has sent a travelling exhibition called Detour around Europe and further afield. Since it began in Berlin in autumn 2007, the exhibition has visited Nice, Caen/ Normandy, Paris, Brussels, Stockholm, London, Bologna and Bratislava. In the new year the exhibition will visit the National Building Museum in Washington DC.
Finance
The National Tourist Routes are largely being financed by the Government, through the transport budget. The Norwegian Public Roads Administration plans to use NOK 1,260 milliard up to 2015. The strong national input will release synergies and value creation out in the rural districts worth NOK 630 million.
Support from other official bodies is estimated
at NOK 410 million. In total, the National Tourist Route project involves investment of NOK 2.3 milliard. The Public Roads Administration has high ambitions for the National Tourist Routes.
Without financial support from other public and private sources it would not be possible to achieve these ambitions.
In general terms, the division of responsibilities and activities means that the
Norwegian Public Roads Administration is
planning and building the various stopping
points where travellers can stop and enjoy
their natural surroundings. The National Tourist Routes project is also responsible
for information and visual improvement
along the roads, as well as profiling and
information about the project on the Internet. Other parties will offer tourists natural and cultural attractions, establish accommodation and food and beverage outlets and assist with marketing and information. It is also important that there should be ongoing work at local level to make visual improvements both indoors and out and to raise service levels for tourists at every stage. A specific agreement with Innovation Norway and the
Norwegian Hospitality Association will contribute to the quality of the overall product,
as well as making the National Tourist Routes better known as a tourist attraction among potential Norwegian and foreign visitors.
/Per Kolstad, NPRA
Contact: Per Kollstad
More information: www.turistveg.no |
