{"id":85009,"date":"2026-05-11T00:01:00","date_gmt":"2026-05-11T06:01:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.opinionpublica.tv\/portada\/?p=85009"},"modified":"2026-05-10T15:16:02","modified_gmt":"2026-05-10T21:16:02","slug":"norways-northern-lights-nightmare","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.opinionpublica.tv\/portada\/norways-northern-lights-nightmare\/","title":{"rendered":"Norway\u2019s northern lights nightmare"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
\"Norway\u2019s<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Following in an unmarked car, the police took immediate interest in a dark gray minivan with foreign license plates. The stop-start driving was suspicious. So was the driver\u2019s frantic texting on his cellphone.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

When he finally drove up to the sludge-clogged terminal entrance of Tromso airport in Norway, he picked up two passengers.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cAs soon as they started driving, we activated the blue lights,\u201d Superintendent Lars Holtedahl said, recalling the February operation. \u201cThey were caught completely off guard.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The crime? Working as an unlicensed northern lights tour guide.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The offense might seem minor to outsiders, but to the people of Tromso, a small Norwegian city above the Arctic Circle, such guides have become virtually Public Enemy No. 1.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Unregulated tour operators have created havoc in Tromso, which is perfectly perched on the fjords between snow-capped mountains to view the aurora borealis, the color-streaked light display over the North Pole.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Much of the year, Tromso is a quiet university town of about 80,000 residents. In recent years, the number of visitors has exploded, mostly because of social media. During high season, from September through April, tourists can outnumber locals three to one.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In February alone, more than 137,000 visitors passed through the recently expanded international terminal of the Tromso airport, according to the Norwegian airports company Avinor.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

This unregulated industry, local officials say, has sown chaos on the streets and undercuts licensed tour operators, as well as the local tax base. \u201cWe don\u2019t see an increase in income in the municipality, we only see the expenses,\u201d said Helga Bardsdatter Kristiansen, the city\u2019s first sustainability officer, pointing to a strain on the city\u2019s roads and services. Nearly half of the tour operators in Tromso are illegitimate, she added.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Most of the illegal operators are from China. So are rising numbers of tourists, some of whom are getting scammed. Many of the illegal guides arrive from outside Norway, working without proper permits and taking their profits with them.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

This season, the police impounded about 10 vehicles a month and arrested more than a dozen people for illegally transporting tourists, deporting the illegal guides who were not Norwegian.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The driver arrested in February in the operation described by Superintendent Holtedahl was a Chinese national in his 40s and expelled. When he was pulled over, he lied and said he was transporting family, the police said. Messages on his phone revealed he had sold a five-day tour for 31,000 yuan, or more than $4,500.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cIt\u2019s a big industry,\u201d Superintendent Holtedahl said. \u201cThere is a lot money being made, the honest way and the dishonest way.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

A typical tour starts at $115 per person and can be stop-and-start, with drivers checking aurora tracking apps, driving as far as the Finnish border, 100 miles away, chasing the lights.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The barrier to entry is low.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cYou need to know where to go, and you need the car,\u201d said Kurt Kolvereid Jacobsen, who is one of the heads of a special team, called the A-Crime unit, which was formed last year to focus on the northern lights industry.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In Tromso, the local A-Crime unit sets off at dusk, when buses clog up the streets, waiting to load tourists. Dressed in neon overalls, they search cars for illegal guides.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The illegal operators are often one step ahead.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Officials working with the A-Crime unit said they had uncovered a chat-group where illegal guides swapped tips to evade checks. Pretending their clients were family members was a common tactic.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

On Red Note, the Chinese social media app, there are hundreds of posts complaining about scams. One user, a woman from Chengdu, in southern China, said the only thing she saw on her tour was the inside of a police station \u2014 after the illegal guide who picked her up was arrested.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThe driver became extremely agitated and demanded that I lie to the police: \u2018Just say we are friends, otherwise this is an illegal operation and I will be penalized!\u2019\u201d she wrote, saying she had been questioned for four hours.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Another tourist, Tingting Wang, paid $1,400 so that she and her aging parents could see the northern lights. On their first night, clouds covered the sky. On the second night, the guide stood them up.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

She returned to Shanghai and lied to her parents about getting a refund.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Tromso, she told us, \u201cis very beautiful and like a fairy tale,\u201d but \u201ctourism is very chaotic.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

On the main road, tourists crowd for fries at what claims to be the world\u2019s northernmost McDonalds or take selfies next to troll statues made famous by Disney\u2019s \u201cFrozen\u201d franchise. There\u2019s almost always a line outside the reindeer hot-dog stand.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The crush is an irritant for many locals, but especially for experienced aurora chasers, like Gunnar Hildonen.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Unregistered drivers are willing to accept a fraction of the $250 he charges for a seat on his 16-seater bus, he said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThis season should be a celebration because it\u2019s my 20th aurora,\u201d he said after shoveling a path for his guests. \u201cBut everything went to hell.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n