According to travel retailer Ticket, air travel over the Christmas holidays will decrease by around 10 percent this year.

– This year we have a 10 percent decline in Christmas travel, says Michael Kapil, marketing manager at Ticket, which sells travel from all charter companies and airlines and has a market share of 25 percent of private travel in Sweden.

Traveling to the sun over Christmas has become part of the Swedish soul for many. And air travel during the Christmas holidays has only increased and increased due to the increasing supply of low-cost flights over the past ten years, until this year when the trend has reversed.

– There are many things that explain this, including the record-breaking summer when many people took all their vacation days so they don't have many left now. In addition to that, we have a weak krona exchange rate, which has made many of the traditional travel destinations more expensive, says Michael Kapil.

The fact that air travel is decreasing this year is confirmed by the travel retailer Resia, which has a sales share of just over 20 percent of all trips sold.

Those who travel less over Christmas than before are primarily young people and families with small children who have weaker finances. And according to Ticket's attitude surveys, it is precisely an economic issue that we travel less, not because young Swedes have become so environmentally conscious.

– You definitely want to be more environmentally conscious, but it's more about how environmentally friendly you are at your destination, for example by choosing hotels with locally employed staff and locally produced food. However, it's a long way from giving up a holiday when you live in cold Sweden and maybe only have one or two sunny trips a year, says Michael Kapil, Marketing Manager at Ticket.

Source: sverigesradio.se