Visit Norway, the national destination marketing organization, has reported a massive surge in website traffic following comments made by President Donald Trump. The spike occurred after the president referred to Norway as a “shit house country” during a rally in Michigan. The remark was made after the Oslo-based Nobel committee decided not to award him the peace prize.
Public Restroom Page Gains Traction
The marketing team at Visit Norway capitalized on the attention by updating an existing five-year-old web page. The page lists unique public toilets located along scenic tourist routes in the country. The organization added a caption stating that the country makes restrooms “great again!” The change was made on Monday night.
By Friday, the page had received more than 540 times the views it had the previous week. The content attracted over 80,000 views from more than 170 countries. Traffic was averaging roughly 4,000 views an hour as of Friday morning. Christine Baglo, editor-in-chief for Visitnorway.com, noted that about 90% of the traffic was organic.
Marketing Strategy and Costs
The organization spent less than $10,000 on sponsored posts for Facebook and Instagram to support the update. A billboard advertisement featuring the same toilet theme is scheduled to appear in Times Square on Saturday. Baglo credited the rapid response to a seven-person “always-on” team. She described the group as functioning more like an editorial desk than a traditional campaign-driven marketing arm.
Americans accounted for approximately a quarter of the page visitors. This digital interest comes as Norway recorded a record 14.2 million foreign guest nights this year. That figure represents a 14% increase compared to 2024. The destination marketing organization continues to monitor the traffic trends as the week progresses.
Source: Skift
