A sharp decline in the number of journeys during the Corona eruption

Holiday cabin bans, local quarantine rules and digital meetings led to the lowest number of trips measured by Statistics Norway since they started their travel statistics in 2002.

Norwegians made 4.1 million trips in the first quarter of 2020, which is 2.1 million fewer trips than the same quarter last year, figures from Statistics Norway show.

There was a decline for all types of travel.

Around 1.1 million trips abroad were made in the first quarter of this year. Compared to the first quarter of 2019, this is a decrease of 19 percent. For domestic travel, there was a more dramatic decline. About 3 million domestic trips were made, a decline of 38 per cent.

The number of business trips were almost halved, and the decline was greatest among business trips inland. Statistics Norway has never measured lower figures for business trips in the first yearly quarter.

– More use of home offices and digital solutions for meeting activities has probably contributed to the decline in the number of business trips, says Statistics Norway.

For holiday trips, the decline was 30 per cent, which corresponds to 1.3 million fewer trips than in the first quarter of 2019. The cabin restrictions and local quarantine regulations in the municipalities, are blamed for the decline. One must return to the first quarter of 2016 to find similar figures.