Danish travel companies report surge in bookings amid unfavorable summer weather
Rain, wind, and cool temperatures are not what the Danish dream of for their summer vacation. Travel companies are currently busy as they are being contacted by desperate Danes who just want to go abroad for a holiday. They are willing to pay extra and compromise.
Five travel companies have reported an increase in travel sales in recent weeks. Bravo Tours has seen a 87% increase in travel sales from week 26 to 27 this year. Last year, the increase in the same period was 31%. Sunweb has sold 45% more trips to the Danes in July this year compared to last year. Apollo Rejser experienced a decline in bookings in May due to good weather, but bookings rose again at the end of June. Spies Rejser sold 50% more trips in the school summer holidays in week 27 than the same time last year. The figures for week 28 are 39% higher than last year. However, Spies estimates that their total sales are roughly on par with last year, as they sold fewer trips in May and the beginning of June than usual. FDM Travel has seen a growth of around 20% more than in the same period last year.
Bravo Tours has rarely experienced anything like this. There is a huge demand. This is always the case, but with the bad weather we have and have had in Denmark, the demand becomes much greater, and people are almost panicking, says CEO Peder Hornshøj.
Even though the weather is important, it is not decisive, he believes. Some people want to go down to some really good weather, especially when the weather is so bad at home. But it is also to recharge the batteries, eat some good food and get some experiences in the backpack.
“It is not unusual for there to be pressure from those who have not ordered in good time, but it is significant right now, rarely have people been so desperate to go on holiday,” says CEO of Bravo Tours, Peder Hornshøj, who himself is in Mallorca.
FDM Travel also experiences an increased pressure on the trips. This year we are much busier in July than usual, because the weather at home has not been with the Danes, says Frederik Øhrgaard, who is concept and marketing manager at FDM Travel.
The Danes who book in the same month as they want to depart find that they have to compromise. For example, when some of the customers demand Italy, there is actually no space. But there are many other places, for example in the Nordic countries and Great Britain.
He adds that more Danes have become more interested in these destinations, and his assessment is that it is due to the severe heat waves we have seen in Southern Europe in recent years.
The weather is getting wilder and wilder. All over the world, you can feel that the weather is changing as a result of the climate. The risk of extreme weather is increasing as the world’s temperature rises.
Here at home, it can so far be felt in the form of heavier rainfall. For example, we saw this on Saturday, when large amounts of rain fell over almost the entire country. This is what this summer makes the Danes book trips away from Denmark.
But in other countries, they have weather problems at the other end of the scale. In Italy and Greece, among others, there are warnings of very high heat.
According to the EU’s climate service, Copernicus, June was the warmest month ever measured in the world. June thus also became the 13th month in a row where a global heat record has been broken, compared to what has previously been measured for each individual month.
For every notch our temperatures go up, the extreme weather follows.
Adrian Lema, head of the National Center for Climate Research at DMI
Globally, climate researchers believe that we will see more forest fires, floods, and generally more violent weather in the future.
Both insurance and travel companies have also upgraded their contingencies so that they are ready to help Danes who get into trouble on their vacation due to the weather – for example, due to heat waves or forest fires.
Last year there were large forest fires on the Greek island of Rhodes, and it meant that several tourists – including Danes – were evacuated.
But the risk of extreme weather does not seem to deter the Danes from going away.
It does not keep the Danes at home, on the contrary, they want to go to the sun and heat, says Peder Hornshøj.