The summer outlook is not great for Norway’s travel industry. According to a forecast from Innovation Norway, a combination of high prices, unfavorable exchange rates for key visitors and uncertain weather both in Norway and in Europe could convince more Europeans to spend their summer vacation elsewhere.
The forecast, based on data from hotels and tour operators, indicates a revenue decline of 5 percent from last year. That would equal NOK 225 million.
Per-Arne Tuftin, a travel industry executive at Innovation Norway, told newspaper Dagens Næringsliv (DN) that he’s reluctant to pin down numbers, but the trend is towards far fewer visits from core markets like Germany and the Netherlands.
The shortfall in Europe is enough to offset growth in visitor numbers from Asian countries, Russia and maybe the US.
“If you take the numbers from 2010, add the shortfalls in Germany and the Netherlands in 2011 and 2012, and then add 5 percent this year, you get a shortfall of NOK 1.4 billion for those three years,” he told DN.
“That speaks volumes of how a drop in tourism from those countries affect Norway’s travel industry, Tuftin said.
newsinenglish.no staff
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