A farmer in Norway’s scenic Lofoten has resorted to setting up what look like electric fences to scare tourists off his land, and prevent them from spoiling newly planted crops. Bjørn Helge Kristoffersen is furious over all those who don’t respect private property.
Farmers usually set up such fences to control their livestock, but Kristoffersen now claims he needs them to control the summertime tourist invasion. “If I don’t fence off my fields, they’ll just drive over them,” Kristoffersen told state broadcaster NRK. “They set up campfires and all kinds of things on my land, and use it as a toilet.” He also complained that recreational vehicles have driven over fields that have just been seeded.
Lofoten has been overrun by tourists in recent years, and local residents have grown weary of the campers and others who “take over” Lofoten every summer. Kristoffersen doesn’t understand English or other foreign languages, but told NRK that “I think all tourists understand Norwegian when I tell them where to go.”
Summer is high season on Lofoten but Kristoffersen thinks he’ll need to keep up his fences until well into winter, to keep tourists off his land. Local tourism officials said they think it’s sad that some visitors are so disrespectful, or don’t understand what’s farmland and open land.
NewsinEnglish.no staff
