Fined for driving on the tundra in a cultural heritage area


The Governor has fined two tourists NOK 20,000 each for driving on the tundra in an automatically protected cultural heritage area in Longyearbyen.

Published 7/16/2024

It was on the evening of Friday 12 July that the two tourists drove on the tundra, which is a violation of Section 5 of the regulation on motor traffic in Svalbard, which prohibits motor traffic in the terrain on bare ground.

In addition, they drove through the automatically protected cultural monument Gamle Longyearbyen so that in several places within the cultural monument and associated security zone wheel tracks were left in the terrain, which is a violation of Section 42 of the Svalbard Environment Act.

For the violations, they were fined NOK 20,000 each. The fines have been accepted.

Earlier this month, another visitor received a fine of NOK 15,000 for driving on the tundra in Bjørndalen. The fine was accepted.