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TOURISM

‘Coolcations’: Tourists flock to Norway and Sweden to dodge summer heat

Driven away from typical summer destinations by intense heat and prolonged heatwaves, tourists are flocking to cooler climates like Norway and Sweden for their holidays.

Published: 3 July 2024 10:10 CEST
Pictured are tourists on a ferry in Norway.
Situated at the very top of the continent, countries such as Norway and Sweden are now playing the "coolcation" card to attract visitors. (Photo by Olivier Feniet / AFP)

Far from her home in the tourist mecca of Tenerife, Cati Padilla is one of the growing number of travellers escaping heatwaves for cooler holidays in Nordic countries.

Countries like Norway and Sweden in northern Europe are now promoting “coolcations” to attract visitors to their temperate climates.

Why leave the Canaries in summer? “To escape the heat,” said Padilla while on holiday with her friends.

“Norway attracted our attention a long time ago because of the green landscape, the mountains and the ice,” added the civil servant in her fifties on the so-called “troll path”, a serpentine mountain route towards the fjords.

In 2023, foreign overnight stays rose by 22 percent in Norway and 11 percent in Sweden according to official statistics, mainly driven by the end of Covid-related restrictions in 2022 and a slump in Scandinavian currencies.

But a survey in Germany for tourist organisation Visit Sweden also found that two out of five people plan to change their travel habits due to the southern European heat, opting for different seasons or cooler destinations.

“Coolcation is not just about the weather,” said Susanne Andersson, head of Visit Sweden. “It’s about travelling to places where it’s a little bit cooler both in the weather but also cooler in the sense of not that many people.”

READ ALSO: Why are temperatures of 25C considered a heatwave in Sweden?

For some people, gone are the overcrowded Mediterranean beaches and heatwaves causing forest fires and the partial closure of the Acropolis in the Greek capital in June.

Nowadays, many prefer to take a dip in a lake or a fjord, or fill their lungs with fresh air on a mountain hike in relative isolation.

– Killer summer –

When British tourist Pam disembarked from a cruise ship on the majestic Geiranger Fjord, a UNESCO World Heritage site, she expected to find cool weather.

But she found herself in sandals and a t-shirt, rather than the raincoat and woollen clothes she packed.

“It’s been wonderful,” said the resident of Lichfield city in west-central England. “It’s still not that hot that you can’t walk.”

“It just does not interest me now to sit on a sunbed, read a book, get up, go and have something to eat and come back to the sunbed. I’d rather visit places, find the history and just look at beautiful places.”

READ MORE: How will Norway be affected by climate change-driven tourism?

The frequency and intensity of extreme heat events and the duration of heatwaves have “almost certainly” increased since 1950 and will continue to do so with global warming, according to UN climate experts.

By 2050, half of Europe’s population could face high or very high risk heat stress in summer, with heat-related deaths potentially doubling or tripling with temperature rises of between 1.5 degrees Celsius (34.7 degrees Fahrenheit) to 3C.

“Spain is a no. Greece is a no,” said 74-year-old French pensioner Gerard Grollier, as he disembarked from a coach in Geiranger village in western Norway.

Why Norway? “The climate is much more pleasant,” explained his daughter, Virginie, a financial adviser. “We have not protected our planet, and now that is impacting tourism.”

– Submerged villages –

The capital of Lapland in northern Finland, Rovaniemi, recorded a 29 percent jump in overnight stays last year.

“You can feel the ‘coolcation’ here, the trend started years ago but it has increased with the hot summers in southern and central Europe,” said Sanna Karkkainen, who promotes tourism in Rovaniemi.

The coolcation influx has its issues, including a surge in Airbnb properties and unruly tourists.

“Our main concern is to have too many people at the same time,” emphasised Jan Ove Tryggestad, former mayor of a Norwegian village where a cruise ship carrying 6,000 passengers and 2,000 crew members had just docked.

“It’s a small village here. In Hellesylt, there are between 280 to 300 winter inhabitants. Obviously it’s a bit of a culture shock when suddenly a small town, by European standards, turns up,” he added. “But we adapt.”

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NORWEGIAN HABITS

How much should tourists really tip in Norway

High wages mean that tipping isn’t necessary in many cases in Norway. However, if you want to leave a gratuity for good service, here’s what’s considered polite.

Published: 2 July 2024 13:49 CEST
How much should tourists really tip in Norway

Tipping isn’t expected in Norway in the same way it is in other countries. This is due to the high minimum wage offered to hospitality workers.

But if you’ve received excellent service and want to show your appreciation, then you are always welcome to leave a tip.

Different methods of tipping

Some restaurants add a service charge. If a service charge has been added, you shouldn’t feel obliged to leave a tip unless you’ve had a perfect time or excellent service.

Service charges will be most common in big cities, areas with many tourists, or for larger bookings.

Given that almost all transactions in Norway take place with card, the first opportunity to tip will be presented at the card terminal when you pay the bill.

Typically, the terminal will show you the amount you owe, and ask you to input how much you wish to pay. This is the most common at restaurants and bars. Even though the terminal may feel like an invitation to tip, you still don’t have to – especially if paying for a couple of beers.

Unfortunately, some who do want to tip tend to miss this opportunity as it isn’t always explicitly stated as an opportunity to tip.

Some card readers may do things the other way, taking payment and offering the user the opportunity to add a tip at the end.

Coffee shops and the like generally don’t have such a system, and may have a regular tip jar for loose cash and change. Cash tips are a rare thing in Norway these days. A lot of businesses also no longer take cash.

If you want to leave a cash tip and the premises don’t take cash, they may thank you for your kindness and politely decline.

One form of tipping that has become more prevalent is ordering at a counter, waiting at the counter, and then paying at the counter. At the counter, you are presented with a tablet on which you choose the percentage you wish to tip.

Tipping here feels obligatory, but really leaving no tip is perfectly fine. Locals typically don’t leave tips in these scenarios.

So, how much should you tip?

Tipping is optional in Norway, as hospitality is one of the few professions in Norway with a minimum wage. Other sectors don’t have a minimum wage, as large numbers of employees are unionised.

However, due to the low levels of union members in hospitality, large turnover, and high proportion of foreign workers there is a minimum wage of 190 kroner per hour.

If you want to recognise that someone has gone above and beyond or simply brightened your day, a tip of around ten percent is considered a good tip rather than the minimum.

Even then, you wouldn’t be expected to tip ten percent everywhere. Ten percent would be good for a nice meal at a restaurant. In other places, five percent is also a decent to good tip to leave.

For smaller bills and transactions, you can always round up rather than do a percentage. If you had a bill for 290 kroner, you could round up to the nearest 50 or 100 kroner, which would still be greatly appreciated.

Where do the tips go?

Almost all establishments collect tips to be shared among all or most staff. The tips are then split among staff based on their share of the hours worked.

The tips will then be added to the workers’ wage slips for them to see, and the government will tax them as they are considered a taxable income.

Despite tips being taxed, this shouldn’t serve as an encouragement to leave a bigger tip than you were thinking of originally or to tip more frequently.

Additionally, staff are taxed on the tips they receive rather than the tips they are expected to receive. This means they do not need to make a certain amount in tips to avoid being overtaxed.

Furthermore, tips are not considered to be part of the minimum wage that workers in hospitality earn. Tips are, therefore, a bonus on top of their minimum wage.

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