We had a lot of fun this weekend, and we will tell you more during the week. But now it's Monday and Mondays mean travel news, right? This week we can tell you where Swedes have booked their Christmas and New Year's holidays and that Ving is launching Albania hard for the spring. In addition, we offer some of the travellers' funniest questions to customer service. We look forward to your comments on this week's travel news!
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Where Swedes celebrate Christmas in 2018
Many Swedes are choosing to spend Christmas and New Year abroad again this year. At the top of the list of booked scheduled holidays are three cities in Florida, according to Resia. When it comes to charter holidays, Gran Canaria, Tenerife, Phuket, Krabi and Dubai top the list. The big winners for Christmas are Florida, Dubai and Egypt. Most booked destinations with scheduled flights for Christmas and New Year 2018:
- Miami
- Orlando
- Fort Lauderdale
- Phuket
- Bangkok
Best time to book Christmas holidays
Many people want to travel abroad over Christmas and New Year, but prices are often unusually high at this time. Skyscanner has produced statistics showing when you should book your trip to make it as cheap as possible. According to these statistics, the best time to book your Christmas trip is in October, preferably during week 41 (8-14 October). The cheapest time to book is 24 December, and the cheapest destination to fly to is Gdansk in Poland.
Primera Air in bankruptcy
The Danish charter airline Primera Air, which flies for the tour operator Solresor, has been declared bankrupt. According to several newspapers, the bankruptcy left 700 of Solresor's travellers stranded at various destinations in Europe. According to TravelNews, since the bankruptcy, Solresor has been working at full speed to ensure that all travellers get the trip they have booked.
Ving launches Albania
Ving now starts selling holidays to Saranda in Albania, from Stockholm, Gothenburg and Copenhagen. To begin with, Ving will offer seven hotels, with good locations close to the beach. Ving flies to Corfu from Stockholm and Copenhagen every Sunday 12 May - 29 September 2019, and from Gothenburg every Sunday 26 May - 29 September 2019. Price in double room including breakfast is from 4975 SEK per person.
"The Beach will be closed
Maya Bay beach in Thailand was made famous by the film 'The Beach' starring Leonardo Dicaprio. Now the authorities are closing the beach indefinitely because it has been destroyed by tourism. The closure has led to protests from many travel companies, but the problem of mass tourism is increasingly recognised in Asia. Not long ago, the Philippines had to shut down the tourist island of Boracay for the same reason.
Travellers' funniest questions
We conclude with travellers' funniest questions from the customer service archive, compiled by online travel agency eBeach.se. Here are five of them:
- I want to cancel my trip to Mallorca. During the summer week when I was there it was 30 degrees in Sweden and only 28 degrees in Mallorca. I feel cheated. What's the point of a sun holiday when you can have sun and swimming at home?
- I always eat eggs for breakfast. Are there eggs in Cyprus?
- When you go on a sun holiday, you expect a certain Swedishness at the destination... it was not there here! It felt far too foreign.
- We would like to stay in an adults-only hotel, but we are taking our children with us. Do you think it will be okay? They are quite calm, so I don't think it's a problem.
- I only booked a hotel with you, but I still get flights and transfers on the booking? I chose All inclusive and I have heard that everything is included.
Did you miss the last travel news? Read the Autumn holidays, Satori trend and Instagram-friendly beaches
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Britt-Marie Lundgren says:
Albania will probably be the next really popular destination. We had planned to continue there when we were in southern Croatia, but then there was that thing with a heavy motorhome and a regular driver's licence....
When reading travellers' questions, the classic question is bound to come up: "Are you really stupid?".
08 October 2018 - 7:16
Helena says:
Albania will grow as a tourist destination, I think so too! Tricky thing with the motorhome and the driving licence. Many tricky rules to keep track of around Europe ...
08 October 2018 - 8:57
Anna / boihusbil says:
No. 3 is the funniest, I think. 🙂
08 October 2018 - 7:38
Helena says:
Haha yes, really fun actually! 😉
08 October 2018 - 8:58
Eva på rucksack says:
That "we want to stay in an adult hotel but have children with us" could have been us! ? I really do my best to avoid family hotels and kids' clubs. It's me and Ferdinand the bull - holidays are "where I can have peace and quiet and smell the flowers"?
08 October 2018 - 7:41
Helena says:
Haha, kids' clubs are not the most relaxing thing 😉.
08 October 2018 - 17:15
Veiken says:
I can't believe that Maya Bay is being shut down. We were there in 1994 with friends. We were all alone there and had lunch with us. Had received a tip from a man with a lontail boat that this beach existed. Have old pictures from there on a completely empty beach.
08 October 2018 - 7:41
Helena says:
Wow, then you saw the beach "for real". So sad when places like this are destroyed by tourism!
08 October 2018 - 17:16
Marianne - Glimt av verden says:
Love to read such questions from tourists! People really do ask a lot of strange questions... 😀.
08 October 2018 - 8:44
Helena says:
It must be interesting to be in customer service 😉 .
08 October 2018 - 17:16
World by Tina says:
Exciting reading! May I ask, which sites do you subscribe to in order to keep up with current events in the travel industry. I use Travel News myself, but perhaps you have more tips?
And thanks for the tips on travel destinations on the French Riviera, feel that it is worth another chance, everything can not be as snoff-boring as in Nice & Monaco as well. Next time we road trip (or train holidays), there may be more focus on France and Italy instead.
08 October 2018 - 9:37
Helena says:
We get press releases by email from a lot of different players in the travel industry, such as eBeach, Resia, Ving, Skyscanner, cruise lines, etc. These are mainly the ones we use. We also check Travel News.
08 October 2018 - 17:21
Ruth i Virginia says:
There is apparently plenty of 'extra' money in Sweden. Swedes are travelling
very much - and far, it seems.
It always amazes me, that so many Swedes are travelling to
Florida. Three cities at the top. And Bangkok; hot and humid and
temples everywhere.
Yes, tourism has ruined many beautiful places. Too many people.
An example in the USA is Yosemite, a wonderful national park in California.
I'm so glad that we, as a family, were able to travel around without
reserve space (70s and 80s)
Question no. 3. 🙂 - (why are you travelling abroad?) This is advertised here.
there is sometimes an 'American breakfast' on group trips. Americans are quite
rigid in their breakfast habits, I must say.
Remember Albania from your long trip last year. Enticing.
08 October 2018 - 10:18
Helena says:
I agree with you that many Swedes travel a lot and that many Swedes have the opportunity to travel. Question 3 yes, haha, very funny! 🙂
08 October 2018 - 17:23
Ama de casa says:
Haha! I feel that I have to complain more, I have accepted too much in life. For example, we were a rainy week in Mallis over the Christian flyers many years ago and it was super weather in Sweden. Can you complain and get compensation for it retroactively, do you think? After all, it was only about 20 years ago, so it can't be time-barred? 😀
08 October 2018 - 10:48
Helena says:
Haha, same here! I have clearly complained too little 😉 .
08 October 2018 - 20:02
Ditte says:
I have been to the top cities and the only one that can still be relevant to stay a few days in is Bangkok. Egypt does not attract me at all. Have been there a couple of times so that's enough. Can understand that many choose Tenerife and Gran Canaria. There is a lot there beyond the tourist routes. Puhket (with then two hotels) and Maya Bay without a hotel I visited in 1980 when we worked in Thailand and was later back in the 90s and even then quite un-touristy. To Maya Bay we also came by longtail boat and had food with us. (Just like Veiken)
Fun with Albania and remember that you told us about positive experiences when you were there.
The questions are funny and I can imagine that they have been asked.
08 October 2018 - 13:41
Helena says:
I can also understand that many people choose the Canary Islands. Nice climate, reasonable price and there are places off the tourist track. Interesting that you also visited Maya Bay! It's sad that tourism has ruined the beach, but in that case it's good that they are closing so the beach can recover.
08 October 2018 - 20:05
Steve says:
Hello!
We used your seabream recipe yesterday. With fresh walleye and it was delicious.
08 October 2018 - 13:55
Helena says:
What fun to hear Steve! And even more fun that it was good! 🙂
08 October 2018 - 20:06
Ann-Louise says:
I was at Maya Bay in 2002 and it was still pretty quiet then. Really sad that tourism has destroyed the beach but good that something is being done about it so that it has a chance to recover.
And I'm really keen to go to Albania!
08 October 2018 - 16:57
Lena - gott för själen says:
Hmm, I don't know if those questions should be included in the "funniest" category... ?! One wonders if they are really real!
Hug Lena
08 October 2018 - 18:20
Lena says:
Oh, Albania is high on my wish list. Would like to go there before it becomes too touristy.
08 October 2018 - 18:25
BP says:
What heavenly funny customer questions:-) Sounds like a joke of course, but obviously the questions were asked irl;-)
The competition between different airlines is murderous, so one or two "small" companies are probably affected by bankruptcy. Heavenly sad, however, for Solresor and all affected travellers.
Sad with closed beaches, but quite right I think. It is we humans who have "worked hard" to destroy the environment ...
08 October 2018 - 19:35