Travel Weekly Blog

The Ullensvang Hotel in Lofthus, where we stayed last night, has seen a steep drop in British visitors recently. We used to be mixed in with Danish, Swedish, German and Japanese guests, but now we're barely represented at all.

Why? It's nothing to do with the hotel, which is perfectly good, with fine views out to Sor Fjord and a solid Grieg connection  - the composer was a friend of the founders, and his name is to be found in an old guestbook (in the middle of the pic).

Managing director Barbara Zanoni Utne tells us it's largely down to the closure of the Newcastle-Bergen ferry route. DFDS shut it down in September 2008, and operators who used it to get clients to Ullensvang pulled out.

At the same time, the independent travellers dried up, because they could no longer bring their cars over.

Perhaps this is an unfortunate metaphor, but in many places tourism operates in a delicate ecosystem..

Update: After leaving Ullensvang, we heard the same story all over Hardangerfjord, from hoteliers, museum guides, even staff on the hugely popular Flam-Myrdal railway.

They all, quite unprompted, pointed to the loss of Newcastle-Bergen.

It won't do to get too misty eyed - operators can't be expected to offer routes and destinations that are not bringing returns - but this is a magnificent part of the world, and is intimately related to British history. It would be a shame if the decline in British visitors became permanent.

More from my trip to Norway on Postcards...