Instead of flying off on their summer holidays this year, nearly 80 percent of all Norwegians will be driving around Norway instead. A new survey tracking Corona virus effects said many will also be staying home or heading for their hytter (holiday cabins).
More than 1,000 Norwegians polled by research firm Opinion indicate they won’t be using public transportation during the ongoing Corona crisis. Fully 77 percent said they’ll use their own cars to get around, while there’s also been a boom in sales of motor homes and boats.
Norway’s traditional three-week July summer holiday period begins this weekend. Half of those responding to another survey by research firm Respons Analyse in May said they’d mostly be staying home and heading off on short excursions instead.
Travel restrictions were eased on Friday to destinations within Europe but many Norwegians seem to already have given up on holidays in southern climes. Thousands have headed for Norway’s own southern coast, where hotels in Kristiansand have been fully booked lately, according to newspaper Dagens Næringsliv (DN). So have several high-end historic hotels in the mountains and along the coast. The venerable Hotel Union Øye, not far from Ålesund, was reportedly booked through August.
newsinenglish.no staff
