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Posts tagged as “tourism”

Shippy McShipface: First cruise ship of season arrives as tourism enters a new era in Longyearbyenfirstcrusiers16

Shippy McShipface: First cruise ship of season arrives as tourism enters a new era in Longyearbyen

By Mark Sabbatini on June 1, 2016
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Read Time:3 Minute, 33 Second

Tony Dunne obviously made an effort to get an early start since he was the first passenger to step off the first cruise ship docking in Longyearbyen this summer, but he didn’t sound like  someone scurrying to savor the sights and sounds of Svalbard.

“To be honest I have no idea why we’re here,” the resident of Kitzbühel, Austria, said as he walked past the security gate to where a half dozen buses, a lone trumpet player and a couple of people advertising day trips to Barentsburg awaited under drizzly skies at about 8:30 a.m. Wednesday. “It’s something to cross off the list.”

About Post Author

Mark Sabbatini

I'm a professional transient living on a tiny Norwegian island next door to the North Pole, where once a week (or thereabouts) I pollute our extreme and pristine environment with paper fishwrappers decorated with seemingly random letters that would cause a thousand monkeys with a thousand typewriters to die of humiliation. Such is the wisdom one acquires after more than 25 years in the world's second-least-respected occupation, much of it roaming the seven continents in search of jazz, unrecognizable street food and escorts I f****d with by insisting they give me the platonic tours of their cities promised in their ads. But it turns out this tiny group of islands known as Svalbard is my True Love and, generous contributions from you willing, I'll keep littering until they dig my body out when my climate-change-deformed apartment collapses or they exile my penniless ass because I'm not even worthy of washing your dirty dishes.
marksabbatini@yahoo.com
http://icepeople.net
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Check out, check in: Longtime manager departs one hotel after upgrade to oversee expansion of upstart competitorhotelcouch

Check out, check in: Longtime manager departs one hotel after upgrade to oversee expansion of upstart competitor

By Mark Sabbatini on February 11, 2016
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Read Time:4 Minute, 11 Second

The other one has a hot tub. This one has what could certainly be referred to as a hot seat – and it’s even more intimate and personal.

A custom-designed leather sofa under a set of skylights graces the Polar Bear Suite on the top floor of the new wing of the Svalbard Hotell (yes, with a double “l”), one of numerous unique furnishings in the expansion that adds 31 rooms, a dining area, fireplace and bar to the original 17-room building.

About Post Author

Mark Sabbatini

I'm a professional transient living on a tiny Norwegian island next door to the North Pole, where once a week (or thereabouts) I pollute our extreme and pristine environment with paper fishwrappers decorated with seemingly random letters that would cause a thousand monkeys with a thousand typewriters to die of humiliation. Such is the wisdom one acquires after more than 25 years in the world's second-least-respected occupation, much of it roaming the seven continents in search of jazz, unrecognizable street food and escorts I f****d with by insisting they give me the platonic tours of their cities promised in their ads. But it turns out this tiny group of islands known as Svalbard is my True Love and, generous contributions from you willing, I'll keep littering until they dig my body out when my climate-change-deformed apartment collapses or they exile my penniless ass because I'm not even worthy of washing your dirty dishes.
marksabbatini@yahoo.com
http://icepeople.net
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Glowing tourism: Overnight visits increase 60 percent since 2009, including 11 percent in ’15, led by foreigners up mostpurplesky

Glowing tourism: Overnight visits increase 60 percent since 2009, including 11 percent in ’15, led by foreigners up most

By Mark Sabbatini on January 31, 2016
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Read Time:1 Minute, 3 Second

About 60,000 tourists spent a record 131,154 nights in Svalbard in 2015, a 60 percent increase since a recession-fueled slump in 2009, due in part to some being lured by extraordinary events.

But while many in the industry are celebrating an 11 percent increase in lodging and camping stays during the luck-filled past year, there is a formidable mountain to scale as a doubling of local tourism is sought during the next several years to help replace lost coal mining jobs.

About Post Author

Mark Sabbatini

I'm a professional transient living on a tiny Norwegian island next door to the North Pole, where once a week (or thereabouts) I pollute our extreme and pristine environment with paper fishwrappers decorated with seemingly random letters that would cause a thousand monkeys with a thousand typewriters to die of humiliation. Such is the wisdom one acquires after more than 25 years in the world's second-least-respected occupation, much of it roaming the seven continents in search of jazz, unrecognizable street food and escorts I f****d with by insisting they give me the platonic tours of their cities promised in their ads. But it turns out this tiny group of islands known as Svalbard is my True Love and, generous contributions from you willing, I'll keep littering until they dig my body out when my climate-change-deformed apartment collapses or they exile my penniless ass because I'm not even worthy of washing your dirty dishes.
marksabbatini@yahoo.com
http://icepeople.net
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Tour disaster: Visitors flocking to avalanche wreckage leaves some residents colddisastertour

Tour disaster: Visitors flocking to avalanche wreckage leaves some residents cold

By Mark Sabbatini on January 30, 2016
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Read Time:2 Minute, 48 Second

Espen Rotevatn is grateful he can still go to his undamaged home, just below the wreckage of 11 others destroyed by last month’s avalanche, at the end of the day. He just wishes visitors weren’t there with cameras and expecting him to play the role of tour guide.

About Post Author

Mark Sabbatini

I'm a professional transient living on a tiny Norwegian island next door to the North Pole, where once a week (or thereabouts) I pollute our extreme and pristine environment with paper fishwrappers decorated with seemingly random letters that would cause a thousand monkeys with a thousand typewriters to die of humiliation. Such is the wisdom one acquires after more than 25 years in the world's second-least-respected occupation, much of it roaming the seven continents in search of jazz, unrecognizable street food and escorts I f****d with by insisting they give me the platonic tours of their cities promised in their ads. But it turns out this tiny group of islands known as Svalbard is my True Love and, generous contributions from you willing, I'll keep littering until they dig my body out when my climate-change-deformed apartment collapses or they exile my penniless ass because I'm not even worthy of washing your dirty dishes.
marksabbatini@yahoo.com
http://icepeople.net
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Coal’s future is past: Opening of Svea to tourists seen as sign of Svalbard’s rapidly expanding polar night activitiesbasecampsvea

Coal’s future is past: Opening of Svea to tourists seen as sign of Svalbard’s rapidly expanding polar night activities

By Mark Sabbatini on January 20, 2016
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Read Time:2 Minute, 21 Second

Visiting a 100-year-old patient on his deathbed sounds like a tough sell in a tourist brochure, but it seems there’s a burgeoning market in Svalbard for the cold-hearted.

Svea will begin the first-ever guided tours for recreational visitors Feb. 1, only a month or two before mining is scheduled to stop for at least three years – and possibly permanently – due to a collapse in coal prices.

About Post Author

Mark Sabbatini

I'm a professional transient living on a tiny Norwegian island next door to the North Pole, where once a week (or thereabouts) I pollute our extreme and pristine environment with paper fishwrappers decorated with seemingly random letters that would cause a thousand monkeys with a thousand typewriters to die of humiliation. Such is the wisdom one acquires after more than 25 years in the world's second-least-respected occupation, much of it roaming the seven continents in search of jazz, unrecognizable street food and escorts I f****d with by insisting they give me the platonic tours of their cities promised in their ads. But it turns out this tiny group of islands known as Svalbard is my True Love and, generous contributions from you willing, I'll keep littering until they dig my body out when my climate-change-deformed apartment collapses or they exile my penniless ass because I'm not even worthy of washing your dirty dishes.
marksabbatini@yahoo.com
http://icepeople.net
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Into blackness: Svalbard’s 12 biggest stories of 2015topstories15

Into blackness: Svalbard’s 12 biggest stories of 2015

By Mark Sabbatini on December 31, 2015
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Read Time:17 Minute, 38 Second

It was already a shell-shocked community beginning to say their farewells to possibly a quarter of the town’s residents, with those left behind worrying about the future of a town with a decimated economic foundation.

Then the avalanche struck.

Either alone ranks among the most significant events in Longyearbyen’s history. Together they may reshape the town more dramatically than at any time since it was almost entirely destroyed during World War II.

About Post Author

Mark Sabbatini

I'm a professional transient living on a tiny Norwegian island next door to the North Pole, where once a week (or thereabouts) I pollute our extreme and pristine environment with paper fishwrappers decorated with seemingly random letters that would cause a thousand monkeys with a thousand typewriters to die of humiliation. Such is the wisdom one acquires after more than 25 years in the world's second-least-respected occupation, much of it roaming the seven continents in search of jazz, unrecognizable street food and escorts I f****d with by insisting they give me the platonic tours of their cities promised in their ads. But it turns out this tiny group of islands known as Svalbard is my True Love and, generous contributions from you willing, I'll keep littering until they dig my body out when my climate-change-deformed apartment collapses or they exile my penniless ass because I'm not even worthy of washing your dirty dishes.
marksabbatini@yahoo.com
http://icepeople.net
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Government cleaning up its act: New rules from traffic limits to scrubbing shoes sought for west Spitsbergenplanmainpic

Government cleaning up its act: New rules from traffic limits to scrubbing shoes sought for west Spitsbergen

By Mark Sabbatini on July 21, 2015
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Read Time:3 Minute, 50 Second

Having cracked down on where humans can go and do in east Svalbard, officials are now looking west.

Visitors will soon be forced to clean their shoes and clothes to remove unwanted seeds, ships banned from discharging any form of wastewater near shore, and birds granted larger sanctuaries if provisions in a new management plan for west Spitsbergen are enacted.

About Post Author

Mark Sabbatini

I'm a professional transient living on a tiny Norwegian island next door to the North Pole, where once a week (or thereabouts) I pollute our extreme and pristine environment with paper fishwrappers decorated with seemingly random letters that would cause a thousand monkeys with a thousand typewriters to die of humiliation. Such is the wisdom one acquires after more than 25 years in the world's second-least-respected occupation, much of it roaming the seven continents in search of jazz, unrecognizable street food and escorts I f****d with by insisting they give me the platonic tours of their cities promised in their ads. But it turns out this tiny group of islands known as Svalbard is my True Love and, generous contributions from you willing, I'll keep littering until they dig my body out when my climate-change-deformed apartment collapses or they exile my penniless ass because I'm not even worthy of washing your dirty dishes.
marksabbatini@yahoo.com
http://icepeople.net
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Column: ‘I was exactly one of those people I now see as a bit of a nuisance’greggoudey

Column: ‘I was exactly one of those people I now see as a bit of a nuisance’

By Mark Sabbatini on March 30, 2015
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Read Time:6 Minute, 32 Second

By Greg Goudey, guest contributor

I came to Svalbard/Longyearbyen for the first time in June of 2013 and, just like I expect most first time visitors think, I thought I was so cool because no one I knew had been to the Arctic.

About Post Author

Mark Sabbatini

I'm a professional transient living on a tiny Norwegian island next door to the North Pole, where once a week (or thereabouts) I pollute our extreme and pristine environment with paper fishwrappers decorated with seemingly random letters that would cause a thousand monkeys with a thousand typewriters to die of humiliation. Such is the wisdom one acquires after more than 25 years in the world's second-least-respected occupation, much of it roaming the seven continents in search of jazz, unrecognizable street food and escorts I f****d with by insisting they give me the platonic tours of their cities promised in their ads. But it turns out this tiny group of islands known as Svalbard is my True Love and, generous contributions from you willing, I'll keep littering until they dig my body out when my climate-change-deformed apartment collapses or they exile my penniless ass because I'm not even worthy of washing your dirty dishes.
marksabbatini@yahoo.com
http://icepeople.net
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Briefs from Svalbardposten for the week of March 24, 2015storenorskeaccident

Briefs from Svalbardposten for the week of March 24, 2015

By Mark Sabbatini on March 30, 2015
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Read Time:1 Minute, 39 Second

Miner loses two fingers in ‘crushing’ accident at Svea
A man in his 40s had two fingers severed during an accident involving a conveyor belt in the mine at Svea, according to the governor of Svalbard. The victim was transported by helicopter to Longyearbyen Hospital following the accident at about 5 a.m. Wednesday. The company has halted work involving the conveyor belt to investigate the equipment and instruct employees on operating it properly.

About Post Author

Mark Sabbatini

I'm a professional transient living on a tiny Norwegian island next door to the North Pole, where once a week (or thereabouts) I pollute our extreme and pristine environment with paper fishwrappers decorated with seemingly random letters that would cause a thousand monkeys with a thousand typewriters to die of humiliation. Such is the wisdom one acquires after more than 25 years in the world's second-least-respected occupation, much of it roaming the seven continents in search of jazz, unrecognizable street food and escorts I f****d with by insisting they give me the platonic tours of their cities promised in their ads. But it turns out this tiny group of islands known as Svalbard is my True Love and, generous contributions from you willing, I'll keep littering until they dig my body out when my climate-change-deformed apartment collapses or they exile my penniless ass because I'm not even worthy of washing your dirty dishes.
marksabbatini@yahoo.com
http://icepeople.net
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