Northern Norway is Norwegians’ new holiday favourite
Fresh figures from FINN travel show a huge increase in the search for flights to Northern Norway in the last couple of years. Berlevåg and Hammerfest are the airports with the highest traffic growth.
More than half of us are going to holiday in Norway during the summer. It appears in this year’s travel survey from FINN.no. Among Norway’s holidaymakers, almost one in three tells them that they are planning a mountain hike during the summer.
– Active holidays have become a trend, and we look at the airline searches that many are searching for areas where nature and active experiences are readily available, says Product Director in FINN Travel, Eivind W. Christiansen.
Dreams of midnight sun, fishing in Lofoten and chalk white beaches
Search for flights to Hammerfest has doubled from 2015 to 2017. Tickets to Leknes and Svolvær have been searched for 76 percent more times during the same period. Also, search for tickets to Bodø, Tromsø and Alta has increased steadily over the past two years.
It is not just fishing in Lofoten and the midnight sun that attracts tourists northward. Recently the magazine Reiselyst voted for the top five beaches in Norway, and on the list we find the beach Unstad in Lofoten, as one of the most beautiful. Also Haukland beach in Leknes tops in several surveys of the most beautiful beaches in Norway (and therefore the world, if you please!).
More chases for the sun and warmth
While Northern Norway is hugely popular with Norwegians, fewer people want take their holiday in Norway. The proportion of people planning to take their vacation in their own country falls from 34 per cent in the summer of 2016 to 28 per cent in 2017. It is especially in the age group 30-39 that fewer are going to summer vacation in Norway, which is a decline from 42 per cent last year to 29 Percent this year.
– Norway has remained as high as holiday destination among Norwegians in recent years. However, destinations are linked to many different factors, including economics and, not least, weather.
There is more optimism in the labour market, which can make a positive impact on the private economy. While the weather that has been experienced so far this year, and over the last summers, more are lured to warmer areas, Christiansen says.
«We use the E6»
That Northern Norway is increasing in popularity is hardly linked to warmer summer memories. Adventures and nature are central to tourists in northern Norway.
– Many Norwegians who vacation in Norway likes to travel by car or go on a camping trip, says Christiansen.
Car travel is especially popular with those of 50+. According to FINN’s travel survey, 36 percent of respondents in the age group answer that they are planning a road trip during the summer.
© Finn.no / Norway Today