Travel and tourism

Our clients include shareholders, investors, developers, property owners, operators and businesses involved in destination development, hospitality, infrastructure and experience-based tourism in Norway.

Norway’s tourism sector continues to attract strong interest from domestic and international investors and operators. The country’s natural attractions, established regional destinations and growing demand from travellers create significant opportunities for investment, development and expansion across the sector.

Our tourism team combines sector understanding with legal expertise in M&A, corporate law, financing, tax, real estate acquisitions and development, construction, employment law, dispute resolution, regulatory matters and ESG. We are also the only large law firm in Norway to have a presence at Svalbard, and our lawyers have in-depth competence about the legal regime applicable in this Arctic region of Norway. We assist clients throughout the full life cycle of tourism-related projects, from structuring, acquisitions, financing and development to operation, expansion and exit. Our experience covers a broad range of tourism-related segments, including hotels and hospitality, commercial real estate, destination development, online ticketing and booking services, transport and infrastructure, fjord and mountain activities, guided experiences, gondolas, zip-lines, boat tours and other leisure and adventure-based concepts.

Examples of recent matters include:

• Advising shareholders and investors on ownership matters and the strategic development of one of Norway’s largest tourism companies, with a broad portfolio of assets, including significant infrastructure assets and real estate
• Assisting shareholders with share sale and cooperation agreements relating to a SaaS company focused on international online ticketing and booking services for specialised leisure and tourism activities
• Assisting DSD Explore AS, a subsidiary of DSD AS, a Norwegian family-owned investment company, with legal matters relating to its investment in Norway Events AS, a company engaged in events and activity planning in the Trondheim region
• Assisting DSD Explore AS with a contemplated investment in FjordEvents AS, a Stavanger-based company arranging RIB safari experiences in the region
• Advising on the sale of a hotel and destination company in Northern Norway
• Assisting a Scandinavian investment company with a share sale and reinvestment in a well-known specialised destination and concept tourism company in Northern Scandinavia
• Assisting Belgium Sport Impact with its acquistion of a majority stake in Hamn at Senja resort
• Assisting Store Norske with its acquisition of the properties of Hurtigruten Group at Svalbard, including three hotels, as part of a long-term agreement between them to further develop Svalbard as a tourist destination