When President Donald Trump told a rally crowd in Michigan that Norway "sucks" — reportedly calling it a "shit house country" after the Nobel committee in Oslo declined to award him the peace prize — you might expect Norway's tourism board to stay quiet. Instead, Visit Norway leaned in, and the results have been remarkable.
Within a day of the remarks, the destination marketing organisation updated a page on its website that had been sitting around for a while: a guide to unique public toilets along Norway's scenic routes. The tweak was simple and sharp — the country makes restrooms "great again!", the page now says, a pointed riff on Trump's own slogan.
The internet did the rest. By Friday, page views had exploded to more than 540 times the traffic the page drew the week before, making it Visit Norway's most-viewed page. What started as an insult has turned into one of the most effective bits of destination marketing the country has pulled off in years — and all it cost was a few lines of copy and a decent sense of humour.
There's genuine substance behind the joke, too. Norway's National Tourist Routes are a network of roads through some of the country's most dramatic scenery — fjords, mountains, coastlines — and the architect-designed rest stops along them are famous in design circles for being genuinely striking. So while the toilet page was framed as a comeback, it points travellers toward a real, underrated way to experience the country: driving these routes and stopping at viewpoints and facilities that are attractions in their own right.
For travellers, this is a fun entry point to a country that can feel intimidatingly expensive or remote. The story has already generated exactly the kind of organic attention tourism boards usually pay millions for, and it serves as a reminder that Norway's selling points extend well beyond the northern lights and the fjords — the infrastructure itself, from scenic roads to public amenities, is part of the experience.
If the spat has put Norway on your radar, it's a good nudge. Late spring through early autumn is the sweet spot for a road trip along the tourist routes, when the passes are open and the light stretches late into the evening. And yes — you can stop at the toilets. They're apparently worth it.
