Almost 300,000 will ignore the Foreign Ministry’s travel advice and risk millions in expenses

Nearly 300,000 Norwegians plan to disregard the Foreign Ministry’s travel advice for this summer and it could be expensive.

According to a survey Sentio analysis agency has done for If insurance company, 291,000 people will ignore the travel advice that is currently being formulated.

As many as 5.4 percent of those surveyed said they want to travel to Sweden, Spain, Greece or Turkey, or countries outside Europe.

That makes the insurance company worried.

“Travel advice from the authorities is there for a good reason and travel insurance does not apply if you go to such a country. A bill for treatment at a private hospital abroad, and perhaps even an ambulance flight home to Norway, may come up in the millions. It’s not something you want to be left to bear yourself,“ said Andreas Bibow Handeland to NTB.

Handeland is a communication consultant of Europeiske which is part of If insurance agency.

He added that he did not want the insurance company to act as the travel police but understands that many are yearning to travel.

“But we encourage people to take it easy for the time being. Our job is to focus on the safety of our customers by telling them what is covered and not, as well as what they risk by defying the Foreign Ministry’s advice,” explained Handeland.

Cabin and road trips
As expected, most people will spend the summer within the country’s borders. Almost 9 out of 10 (83.9 per cent) said they will be vacationing in Norway this summer. This is equivalent to 4.5 million Norwegians.

“It shows that people are actively participating in the ‘dugnad’ to limit the spread of infection, and with it listen to the advice of the authorities,” observed the communications adviser.

57 per cent of those who stay in Norway said the summer holidays should be spent at home or in the cabin.

According to the survey, 32.4 per cent said they would have a road trip this summer while 13.4 said that they would have a camping holiday this year.

Inexperienced camper van drivers
When asked what will be the biggest challenge of vacationing in Norway this summer, 46.9 per cent answered “people who do not respect the rules on infection control”.

“Travel insurance applies as per normal if something should happen in Norway, and it covers cancellation should you become acutely ill before departure,” said Handeland, who aded that he hopes everyone will respect and follow the authorities’ advice and recommendations.

Among the responses that were highlighted as a challenge of a Norwegian holiday were :More travelling on the roads (32.9 percent), more expensive holidays (28.8 percent and inexperienced motorhome and camper van drivers (20.2 percent).

As many as 1.2 million Norwegians (23 per cent) believe it would be challenging with holidays since they cannot travel abroad.