The summer is in full swing, and despite the coronavirus’ limitations, a good number of Norwegians chose to spend their holidays abroad.
For some, the journey has been relatively smooth, while others have encountered challenges with long queues and countries that have changed color in the infection map.
Due to the uncertainty that prevailed before the summer it was many who made the decision to postpone their holiday abroad until later in the year.
– It has long been good with orders abroad now in late summer and beyond the autumn. It may seem as if many have postponed their travel plans from the summer holidays to the autumn holidays and the weeks around this, says press manager John Eckhoff in SAS.
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– Large fluctuations
Eckhoff says it is the authorities ‘travel advice and the various countries’ restrictions that have the greatest impact on the demand for airline tickets.
Flysmart24 recently wrote about how ticket sales to the United States increased significantly. This surprised commercial director Terje Berge in Finn Reise, as the USA is almost closed to entry for all non-Americans.
“I can hardly believe anything but that it is about people who gamble that the United States will ease the entry ban before the autumn holidays begin in October,” Berge told Flysmart24.
Two weeks ago, the USA was in 3rd place over land Norwegians booked trips to through Finn Reise. Berge tells TV 2 that the latest figures from Finn Reise show that orders to the USA have slowed down again, and that the country is now in 9th place.
– There are large fluctuations due to countries that often change color, and bookings change in step with the travel advice, says Berge, who thus sees the same trend as SAS.
– Commercial director Terje Berge in Finn Reise. Photo: Truls Aagedal / TV 2
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The usual favorites at the top
Of those who booked hotels through Finn Reise last week, 64 per cent of the bookings were to places in Norway.
The most popular countries for hotel bookings outside Norway are Spain, Sweden, Denmark and Turkey, while the most popular foreign cities are Copenhagen, Gdansk, London and Istanbul.
– There is a high volume of domestic flight bookings, and high competition results in low prices. The growth in percent compared to the same week last year gives “Russian percentages”, says Berge.
By Russian percentages is meant a large percentage increase after a large percentage decrease, which in this case comes from few orders abroad at the same time in 2020.
Flight bookings through Finn Reise in week 32:
– 64 percent of all flight bookings in week 32 through Finn Reise were made to places in Norway. Spain is also quite popular. Graph: Find Travel
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Changed rules
The Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MFA) has extended the Travel Council, which advises against all travel that is not strictly necessary to all countries except the EU / EEA, Switzerland and the United Kingdom. This travel advice is valid until 1 September.
SAS flies 180 direct routes to 100 destinations this autumn, and has made changes so that people will dare to book.
– As of today, travel is more challenging than usual, especially abroad. SAS has therefore introduced more flexible rebooking alternatives so that our customers who are going abroad can change their tickets up to 72 hours before departure without charge, says Eckhoff.
For domestic travel, SAS offers rebooking free of charge up to one hour before departure for SAS Go Flex ticket. SAS Plus tickets are both rebookable and refundable.
– This applies to both domestic travel and international travel. Furthermore, SAS offers 24-hour open purchase if the customer has booked the trip through SAS, says Eckhoff.
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Book shortly before departure
The SAS press officer says that it is mainly warmer regions that entice, and points to countries such as Spain, Italy, Greece and Croatia as Norwegians’ preferred destinations.
– A trend we see under the corona is that customers book closer to departure than before, says Eckhoff.
Terje Berge in Finn Reise says that most bookings that come in now are made for the autumn holidays, but that trips are also booked evenly distributed until March 2022.
– As there are flexible tickets, there is little risk in booking airline tickets or package holidays. As more and more people are fully vaccinated, more people think it is possible. On package holidays, Spain is without a doubt the most popular, followed by Greece, says Berge.
– What is your advice to people who are considering booking travel now?
– Order flexible tickets and order by credit card, says Berge.
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