The holiday weather in Sweden has been cooler for the past two weeks, with Swedes increasingly buying last-minute trips to warmer climes.
“As the holidays begin and the weather gets colder, it suddenly just explodes,” says Bo Jakobsson, sales director at booking site Resia, about last-minute trips.
The sunny and warm weather has been conspicuous by its absence for much of July, which seems to have affected Swedes' choice of holiday destination. Sales of last-minute trips have increased explosively at the major travel companies in recent weeks. Booking sites Ticket and Resia have both noticed a large increase in booked last-minute trips compared to the same period last year.
Waiting for booking trend
Several of the travel companies and booking sites that SVT has contacted say that earlier in the year they have seen a wait-and-see booking trend.
Bo Jakobsson believes that the warm summer of 2018 is fresh in the memory, while the train trend and awareness of flying have affected the booking situation.
“Since last summer, we have seen a wait-and-see booking trend. There has been lower demand for travel throughout the spring,” he says.
Fredrik Henriksson, communications manager at Ving, says that the booking trend has now reversed for them as well compared to the same time last year.
– Now we see that there has been a high pressure on travel searches due to the weather, says Fredrik Henriksson.
Weak currency and flight shame
Even at the travel company Apollo, sales of summer trips have been sluggish, until recently, compared to the summer of 2018.
– More people than usual may have thought that ”we’re going on vacation at home this year” after the hot summer last year, says Apollo’s Sweden manager Erika Butterworth.
She also mentions the weak krona as a reason why people have not bought as many trips abroad earlier this year.
Could the flight scandal have affected bookings for trips abroad this year?
– In certain groups, when we have conducted surveys, many say that it is an influencing factor but nothing that makes them choose not to travel, says Erika Butterworth.THE INCREASE IN TRAVEL ABROAD IN SUMMERHide
Tickets: The number of trips booked has increased by 61.5 percent since the week after Midsummer up to and including July 8 compared to the same period in 2018, says PR and Communications Manager Katarina Daniels.
Travel: Last-minute trips to major cities have increased during week 28, compared to the same time last year. The most popular charter destination is Rhodes in Greece, which has increased by almost 30 percent compared to the same period in 2018, according to sales manager Bo Jakobsson.
Apollo: Has sold almost 50 percent more last-minute trips this summer compared to 2018, according to Sweden manager Erika Butterworth.
Tui: Last-minute travel has increased by 30 percent in the past week, compared to the same time last year, according to communications manager Mikkel Hansen.
Wing: The number of trips booked during the summer months has increased by 50 percent compared to 2018, says Communications Manager Fredrik Henriksson.
Source: SVT round-up
Source: svt.se
