Tourists spend thousands of crowns on helicopters to fly over Preikestolen, much to the dismay of hikers and local residents. – People are frustrated, says Ingvild Sørensen (MDG).

– In my opinion, it’s “clothing tourism”, it’s useless. There are many more enjoyable ways to experience the nature of Rogaland than making noise for those on the move.

This is what Stavanger city councilor Ingvild Sørensen (MDG) told VG. She constantly receives inquiries from Stavanger residents who say they are frustrated by the noise of the helicopters that ferry tourists to the Chair during the summer season.

The case has already been discussed by Stavanger Aftenblad And Strandbuen.

– People are quite frustrated and wondering how they can do this, says Sørensen.

She lives in central Stavanger herself and says she hears the helicopters several times a day, especially when cruise ships are on board.

– Where I live, they fly over all the time, several times a day. Plus we have the air ambulance, it does what it’s supposed to do and transportation is necessary. He tolerates people. But when there’s a lot of stupid driving involved, it gets tiring.

Sørensen also highlights the climatic aspect of frequent helicopter flights:

– If we want to have any hope of reducing emissions, it is terribly stupid tourism to transport people in this way, it is a completely unnecessary emission.

– Ruins the experience

Tourists who made the trip on foot are also frustrated by the frequent helicopter tours, according to Helge Kjellevold.

He is the general director of Stiftelsen Preikestolen, which has been receiving complaints from visitors about noise from drones and helicopters for several years.

– This has been a problem for a long time, we regularly receive feedback from customers that there is noise related to the use of drones, helicopters and sightseeing tours. I have been working at the foundation for five years and this has always been a problem, says Kjellevold.

He says he has all respect for the people who choose the helicopter tours, but that the foundation had to make a choice about which group of tourists to prioritize – a simple choice, according to Kjellevold:

– We must prioritize the 350,000 tourists who use resources to plan their vacations, who travel and live here and who spend a whole day riding. We need to prioritize the experience they gain, he says and adds:

– If they experience a disturbing helicopter noise, it ruins a lot of the experience they spent time and money on. We must choose who we want to care for.

Mayor Irene Heng Lauvsnes (H) supports:

– I want us to take into account those who want to have peaceful experiences in nature in our municipality, more than the few people who take a helicopter, she said.

Helitrans, one of the companies that flies helicopter tours to the Chair, writes in an email to VG that it wants to establish routes that distribute or minimize noise.

– Our pilots try as much as possible to exercise caution and judgment when carrying out our missions and try to avoid inconvenience to third parties as much as possible, writes Helitrans director Ole Christian Melhus.

– At the same time, it is important to take into account the fact that many people live precisely from tourism, which in turn contributes to the maintenance of employment, sustainability and jobs both in cities and in areas rural.

Can become a quiet zone

The municipal manager of Strand Municipality, Heidi Klaveness, tells VG that she has received complaints through Stiftelsen Preikestolen, which reports that there have been an increasing number of complaints in recent years.

– We want to make sure that those who visit Preikestolen, live there and have a cabin there, have good experiences. A lot of noise from helicopters is generally undesirable.

According to Klaveness, this is a topic during work on a regional plan for the entire Lysefjord, and therefore also for the Chair.

– We are studying, among other things, whether we can introduce a so-called consideration zone and a quiet zone for this zone which would help to regulate noisy activities.

– In this case, will this mean the end of all helicopter activity above the Chair?

– I don’t yet know the details of what this will entail, but it gives us a way to regulate noisy activities.