Norwegians travel less in the first half of 2025: residents made 15 million trips, a 7% decline year‑on‑year, both domestically and abroad, according to Statistics Norway (Statistisk sentralbyrå, SSB). While activity has cooled for the first time since the pandemic, overall travel remains above pre‑2020 levels.
Travel slowdown: Norwegians travel less across categories
SSB’s latest Travel Survey shows fewer journeys across all purposes and destinations. From January to June, Norwegians undertook 11.5 million domestic trips and 3.5 million international trips, together 1.1 million fewer than a year earlier. The setback breaks a steady post‑2020 recovery.
The dip affected both home and abroad. Domestic mobility—traditionally supported by cabin stays and short breaks—eased, while foreign travel also moderated amid a weak krone, higher interest rates and rising prices for food, energy and transport. SSB notes that, despite the slowdown, overall travel intensity remains higher than before the pandemic.
Holiday travel drops, business travel softens
Of the 15 million total journeys, 12.5 million were holiday trips. These included 9.5 million in Norway and just under 3 million abroad, down 3.2% and 7.3% respectively. Business travel weakened more sharply: a little over 2.5 million work trips were recorded, with domestic business travel down 17% and international business travel down 28% from the same period last year.
What Norwegians spent: more kroner per trip
Even as volumes fell, spending rose. Travellers spent NOK 79 billion (≈€6.7 billion) on holiday trips in H1 2025: NOK 44 billion (≈€3.7 billion) domestically and NOK 35 billion (≈€3.0 billion) abroad. Average outlays increased to about NOK 4,600 (≈€390) per domestic holiday and NOK 12,000 (≈€1,020) per trip abroad, indicating higher travel costs per journey.
Implications for Nordic tourism and EU travel flows
The cooling of Norwegian demand—driven by cost‑of‑living pressures and currency weakness—may recalibrate flows between domestic destinations and nearby European hubs. For Nordic tourism operators, the mix points to fewer trips but higher spend per trip, with pricing and exchange rates likely to steer choices through the rest of 2025.
