Why Scandinavia is booming for Aussie travellers

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This was published 7 years ago

Why Scandinavia is booming for Aussie travellers

Aurora Borealis seen in Norway.

Aurora Borealis seen in Norway.

According to some predictions, this coming European winter may produce some of the most spectacular Northern Lights in more than 50 years. In fact, Scandinavia specialist Bentours is so confident its clients will see the Northern Lights on its Classic Coastal Voyage Return with Hurtigruten, it's offering a free return cruise in the event of no lights being seen.

That's all good news for Australians heading to Scandinavia for holidays – a legion on the rise.

In the words of Bentours brand manager Ryan Bennett, Scandinavia is "booming" with Australians. "That's for a lot of reasons: new brochures, great product, great discounts and a wider range of destinations on offer now, beyond the capital cities. But there is also high cultural interest in Scandinavia. It's everywhere, in press, furniture, food, singing – Eurovision in Stockholm and Australians being obsessed with the contest. Half of recent Eurovisions have been in Scandinavian cities."

Scandinavia's popularity is also about the style of travel: "It's easy to get around, everyone speaks English, it's good for families, and there are lots of different ways to travel, from cruising the fiords to city life."

Post the terrorism events in Paris and Brussels, Bentours has also seen a spike in interest and co-relating trends in sister brand Tempo, which is a mainland Europe specialist.

"Definitely with the Paris attacks and the situation in Turkey, people are concerned," says Bennett. "Where mainland Europe was mostly about long lead bookings, now people are booking last minute once they know things are OK at that moment. They are being cautious.

"But if the client's heart is set on travel at a certain time or if they want to capture deals, they're booking Scandinavia in a big way to go somewhere safe."

Meanwhile, on the back of the interest in the Northern Lights, Bentours has expanded the number of departures of its popular Follow the Lights tour from two to eight. It's also reduced its size from 40 passengers to 20 in line with increasing market interest in small group travel. See bentours.com.au.

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