Safe cards, adult destinations and world heritage sites that are missed

It's Monday again, and that means travel news here at FREEDOMtravel. Every Monday we go through the week's crop of press releases, on the topics of travel, tourism and camping, and present short extracts from selected news items. Stay tuned!

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How summer travelling turned out - unstable weather led to a booking boom?

The summer of 2023 was characterised by unstable weather in Sweden. As a result, many holidaymakers went abroad. According to Ticket's booking statistics, Swedes' desire for sun and sea resulted in a 26 per cent increase in bookings for summer holidays. This is where Swedes travelled during the summer of 2023:

1. Malaga
2. Alicante
3. Majorca
4. Split
5. London

Where adults are travelling in September

New figures from Hotels.com show that destinations that are free of playing children and families paxing sunbeds are attracting many to take a September trip, especially dinks (double income no kids) who are not dependent on school schedules. Searches for adult travel on Hotels.com have increased by a whopping 630 per cent compared to family travel in September. Most popular destinations for adults in September:

1. Stockholm
2. Gothenburg
3. London
4. Majorca
5. Malmö

Swedes choose safe cards this year

Recent figures from the airline KLM clearly show new booking and travel patterns based on bookings from Sweden, Norway and Denmark in the summer of 2019 compared to the same period in 2023. 80 per cent of air passengers choose to stay within Europe, and Croatian travellers are more likely to stay in Europe. Split stands out with a 50 per cent increase. Spain and Portugal remain very popular destinations. The length of trips has also changed. Shorter trips are increasing while longer ones are decreasing.

World heritage sites that Swedes miss out on

After a Swedish summer characterised by grey weather, the hotel and travel search site momondo notes that many people are planning trips to European destinations this autumn. Ahead of the autumn trip, momondo suggests Unesco world heritage sites that many Swedes have missed, according to an international survey conducted by momondo. Here are ten world heritage sites that many people miss (% indicates how many Swedes have visited the world heritage site, according to the survey):

1. Beffroi bell towers, Belgium and France (3 %)
2. City of Cordoba, Spain (4 %)
3. Schönbrunn in Vienna, Austria (7 %)
4. Torget Grand-Place, Belgium (7 %)
5. City of Bruges, Belgium (7 %)
6. "Works of Antoni Gaudí" in Barcelona, Spain (7 %)
7. City of Dubrovnik, Croatia (9 %)
8. City of Split, Croatia (10 %)
9. City of Salzburg, Austria (11 %)
10. City of Granada, Spain (13 %)

Norwegian celebrates 20 years in Sweden

On 1 September, Norwegian celebrated exactly 20 years since the airline started flying from Stockholm Arlanda and Sweden. On 1 September 2003, Norwegian started operations in Sweden and since then more than 70 million passengers have flown to, from and within Sweden. To and from Stockholm Arlanda alone, over 65 million passengers have flown with Norwegian since the start. Curiosity:

• In 2003, an air ticket between Stockholm and Oslo cost from SEK 296 per one-way journey and was only valid if booked online.
• In 2002, 20% of airline tickets were booked online and just one year later the number of online bookings had increased to 44%. In 2005, over 80% of all airline tickets were booked online.

Decline in new registrations slows down - great interest in Elmia

August's new registration figures show a decline for both caravans and motorhomes compared with the previous year. However, the decline in sales has slowed down and some stabilisation of the market can be seen. Interest in mobile accommodation remains high according to figures from Svensk Camping. Advance interest in the big fair at Elmia, where the 2024 models will be premiered, is also greater than before.

• Caravan registrations August 2023: 188 (compared to 218 the year before)
• Motorhome registrations August 2023: 242 (compared to 318 the year before)

Reflection of the week

Three of this week's news items mention the Croatian city of Split. Interestingly, two of the news items say that many people travelled here last summer or will travel here this autumn, while the third says that many people are missing out on the Split World Heritage Site. Does anyone get it? Either way, Split is an amazing city!

Did you miss the last travel news? Read the Finnlines new ships, design cooperation and mushroom weekends

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