Santa Claus, new airlines and tourism award winners

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What happens on Mondays? Well, you can read travel news on FREEDOMtravel! We compile short extracts from the week's press releases on the topics of travel, tourism and camping. Enjoy!

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New motorhome registrations continue to rise

November's new registration statistics from the HRF show a continued strong market upturn for motorhomes, up 19.1 per cent for November and 7 per cent so far this year. New caravan registrations are also on the rise, up 27% for November, with the overall result for the year to date being -17.6%. The mood in the industry is positive. Dealers are reporting continued interest from customers, although some are holding off on investment.

• Motorhome registrations for November 2024: 156 motorhomes (compared to 131 in November last year)
• Caravan registrations for November 2024: 99 caravans (compared to 78 in November last year)

Tiraholms Fisk in Halland wins the Grand Tourism Prize 2024

The family business Tiraholms Fisk, on Lake Bolmen in Halland, has been awarded the prestigious Grand Tourism Prize 2024. The Grand Tourism Prize is awarded by the Foundation for the Promotion of Knowledge in Tourism to a company that has made an innovative contribution to the development of the tourism industry. Tiraholms Fisk is honoured for its innovative business with fish at the centre. For over 40 years, Tiraholms Fisk has carefully developed its business and shown that it is possible to run a year-round destination in the countryside.

Travel bookings soared during Black Week

Black Week attracted travelling Swedes and resulted in a booking boom, according to recent statistics from the travel agency Ticket. The combination of interest rate cuts, snowy weather and lots of discounts seems to have driven many Swedes to book their trips during the campaign week and bookings increased by 20 per cent. Most booked destinations during Black Week:

1. Gran Canaria
2. Malaga
3. Bangkok
4. Alicante
5. Amsterdam
6. Paris
7. London
8. Barcelona
9. Majorca
10. Berlin

Taxi Stockholm's Santa Claus is back

Taxi Stockholm relaunches Caretaker - a service where a costumed Santa Claus delivers Stockholmers' parcels throughout December. In addition to the Santa Claus service, Taxi Stockholm also offers the Taxi plots which has been a recurring tradition since 2004. The service allows Stockholm families to book a taxi Santa to avoid the responsibility of organising a Santa visit themselves on Christmas Eve.

Stordalen expands with flagship in Skåne

The flagship of Kristianstad Hotel Christian IV becomes part of Strawberry. Originally built as the city's new bank in 1901, the hotel is located in the centre of Kristianstad, with 100 metres to the train and bus station. The hotel's 86 hotel rooms, conference rooms and other areas have been undergoing renovation for some time and will open on 1 April 2025 as part of Strawberry's Nordic Clarion Collection hotel chain. 

Sauna on site in Falkenberg

A sauna is now in place at the far end of Bacchus north of Skrea Strand in Falkenberg and is ready to use. The newly built sauna is run by the Falkenbergs Kallbadsvänner association and can be booked via a convenient online system at falkenbergskallbad.se. With panoramic windows and a view of Kattegatt, all the weather changes of the west coast can be experienced from the front row.

Norwegian launches new routes for summer 2025

For the summer season, Norwegian is launching 17 new routes and from Stockholm Arlanda is launching Bilbao, Lyon, Oporto and Bucharest. This means a total of 344 routes to 128 destinations for the 2025 summer programme, including 71 routes in Sweden. In addition to the new routes from Sweden, new routes will be launched from Denmark, Norway, Finland and Latvia. About the new routes from Stockholm Arlanda:

• To Bucharest: Two departures per week starting 1 May 2025
• For postage: Two departures a week starting 4 June 2025
• To Lyon: Two departures a week starting 13 June 2025
• To Bilbao: Two departures a week starting 14 June 2025

Reflection of the week

What exciting new routes with Norwegian! All the routes from Stockholm go to destinations we are curious about, but have not had the opportunity to visit yet.

Did you miss the last travel news? Read the Christmas markets, festive hotels and a magical dining experience

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