It's time for this week's travel news! As usual, we have botanised in the pile of press releases and selected some we find interesting. Where are Swedes travelling this Christmas? And what are they prepared to pay extra for? This week's news is all about that and more.
Table of contents
High demand for SJ's autumn holiday trips
According to a press release from SJ, travel during week 44 looks set to increase by 13 per cent compared to last year. The most popular holiday destination is Stockholm, followed by Gothenburg and Uppsala. Here are SJ's tips on autumn holiday destinations that can be reached by train:
- Åre - Watch the northern lights or experience Åre Park
- Örebro - Running from zombies in the 'Run For Your Lives' race
- Strömstad - Relax at Strömstad Spa & Resort
- Söderåsen National Park - Experience nature and meet animals
- Stockholm - Visit Djurgården with Gröna Lund and Vikings
Halloween in camping
Halloween celebrations are not only organised in amusement parks. You can also celebrate Halloween at a campsite. Nordic Camping organises Halloween celebrations at its campsites in Röstånga, Råå Vallar in Helsingborg, Hagön in Halmstad, Ånnaboda in Örebro and in Västerås. The campsites offer a spooky three-day package with many activities for children.
Where Swedes are travelling this Christmas
This year is the workers' Christmas and a smaller number of holiday days means a long Christmas break. According to a press release from Resia, many people are choosing long-distance destinations, and both Australia and New Zealand is growing in popularity. The city with the largest increase is London, with a 204 per cent increase since last year. The charter list is topped by the Canary Islands, Thailand and Mexico. Here is the top list for scheduled flights:
- Miami, USA
- Bangkok, Thailand
- Phuket, Thailand
- Sydney, Australia
- Cape Town, South Africa
One in four travellers hope for bad weather at home
A survey by online travel agency eBeach.se shows that one in four Swedes hope for bad weather in Sweden when they are abroad. In addition, the weather can lead to some people stretching the truth, with 16% stating that they have lied about the weather when on holiday. This is what Swedes want the weather to be like at home when they are travelling abroad:
- It doesn't matter (54 %)
- As nice as I have it (18 %)
- Worse than I have it (14 %)
- Poor (10 %)
- Better than I have it (3 %)
Swedes are prepared to pay extra for direct flights
9 out of 10 Swedes are willing to pay extra to make their air travel smoother in some way, according to a Sifo survey commissioned by Ticket. Swedish travellers are most willing to pay extra to fly directly to their destination - 72% are prepared to pay extra to avoid stopovers. Only 6 per cent are out-and-out bargain hunters. This is what Swedes are willing to pay extra for:
- Direct flight without stopover (72 %)
- Convenient departure and arrival times (45 %)
- Well known, stable airline (42 %)
- Travelling from/to a nearby airport, short transfer (28 %)
- None (6 %)
2020's most affordable weekend destinations
The travel industry magazine TravelNews, in collaboration with the research company YouGov, is selecting the 2020 destination of the year. This is done in nine different categories, and the three most popular in each category are presented at the Travel News Market on 7 November. The nominees in the budget weekend category have been selected by the Travel News editorial team in collaboration with a number of travel profiles. The nominees are: Belgrade, Bratislava, BudapestBucharest, Gdansk, Istanbul, Krakow, Ljubljana, Prague, Riga, Warsaw and Zagreb (pictured).
Did you miss the last travel news? Read the Trendy autumn destinations and dreams of Swedish nature
Mr Nils-Åke Hansson says:
Have nothing left for Halloween do not understand this. Children Children go with family to London Autumn holidays.
07 October 2019 - 11:44
Helena says:
Nice with London trip! 🙂
08 October 2019 - 7:19
Veiken says:
I can't imagine a longer journey by train. It takes far too long. Max Gothenburg - Stockholm approximately.
We will be in winter storage this year too! ?
07 October 2019 - 12:36
Helena says:
Guess it will be a warm and cosy winter storage! 🙂
08 October 2019 - 7:19
Reiselinda says:
The weather is always interesting! It's a bit unsympathetic to like the fact that the weather is bad at home when you're away. And to lie about your own weather....
07 October 2019 - 12:46
Helena says:
Haha, yes it is a bit unsympathetic. In general, I probably wish those at home super nice weather when I'm travelling! But I remember when we were on holiday in Norrland for three weeks and it was cold and rainy all the time - and at the same time it was warm and sunny in Stockholm. Then it felt a little sour. (But for myself then, not to envy those at home nice weather!). And lying about the weather, just strange I think ...
08 October 2019 - 7:21
BP says:
I also think train journeys take too long, but Greta will be happy about that news.
Totally agree with direct flights and "sensible" departure and arrival times.
07 October 2019 - 18:41
Helena says:
Appreciating direct flights more and more! Changing flights is stressful ...
08 October 2019 - 7:22
Ama de casa says:
The best part of this great post was probably the little train at the top 😀.
Have a great start to the week!
07 October 2019 - 20:20
Helena says:
Isn't that right? It's on us! 🙂
08 October 2019 - 7:22
Maria's Memoirs says:
Interesting news 🙂 Of course you don't want to miss the best weather at home while you're away, but then again you can't always get the best of both worlds either 😉.
Will not be a Christmas trip for me because then I prefer to cosy up at home. But now in a couple of weeks it's off to a hopefully not too rainy Bangkok and Thailand 😀.
07 October 2019 - 22:55
Helena says:
Lovely with a trip to Thailand! Hope you get it really nice! 🙂
08 October 2019 - 7:22
Lena - good for the soul says:
Lying about the weather?! What is it good for?! And why should you wish that those at home get worse weather? I hardly get better weather myself if I lie about it or wish someone else worse. How utterly stupid! People are fantastic.
It's great that train travel is increasing. It is quite nice to travel by train.
Hug Lena
08 October 2019 - 6:02
Helena says:
No, I don't understand that lying about the weather ...! Wishing them at home, of course! (Although of course it can feel like a bummer when you leave a sunny hometown to go to a place where it rains. But do not wish them at home bad weather for that ;))
08 October 2019 - 7:24