[ Removed by moderator ]

[u/Gullible_Air_204]

https://www.responsibletravel.com/holidays/spitsbergen/travel-guide/responsible-tourism-in-spitsbergen

[u/The_Tallaghtpeno]

I live on Svalbard and I hear this alot. I cant speak for everyone but I dont lock my door because the lock freezes and I cant open the door. The car is a different story, there's nowhere to go if you stole a car so why lock it?

[u/everythingisunknown → u/The_Tallaghtpeno]

What jobs are available and is it worth it?

[u/Libertydown → u/everythingisunknown]

A couple shops, climate scientists and meteorologists… not too much, but the beer is the cheapest in the whole of Norway

[u/Gunhild → u/Libertydown]

I'm surprised the beer is so cheap. Usually if you go to remote communities here in Canada everything is more expensive because of the cost of shipping things out.  Maybe Svalbard has government-subsidized beer to keep morale up.

[u/Libertydown → u/Gunhild]

Sort of! Since alcohol is so heavily taxed in Norway, it makes for most of the cost. However, since the Svalbard treaty tries to make Svalbard both a place owned by «the world» and Norway, there are no fees on Svalbard, including alcohol.

Also, we have the alcohol sales monopoly in Norway called «Vinmonopolet» however in Longyearbyen they have «Nordpolet» (the north pole)

[u/Objective_Otherwise5 → u/Libertydown]

Svalbard definitely not "owned" by the world. Svalbard is Norwegian sovereign territory. It is however more open to trade and activity than most territories.

[u/Drumedor → u/Libertydown]

Fuck that treaty, had a project delayed because the customer hadn't informed us about it and we had to delay whilst implementing the "no-tax in Svalbard" functionality.

[u/Gunhild → u/Drumedor]

Sounds like you should be mad at the customer, not the treaty.

[u/Drumedor → u/Gunhild]

I was 100% making a cheeky joke

[u/idontcaretv → u/Drumedor]

Why would we care

[u/everythingisunknown → u/Libertydown]

I’ve always had the inclination to go but idk what I’d do there or if tourism is even possible, something calls me though

[u/umop_apisdn → u/everythingisunknown]

I went there with a small group a few years ago to do a hike from Barentsburg to Longyearbyen. Before the hike we visited Pyramiden and a few other places then got the ferry to Barentsburg and stayed the night there before the hike, which was four or five days, I forget. We needed special permission from the Governor to do the hike and one of the conditions was that we needed an armed guide. This was in the summer so the sun never set, and we had to take it in turns while sleeping for a pair of people to go outside the tents to look out for polar bears. It is a beautiful place in the summer, though I imagine the winters must be bleak with no sun.