Natural wonders, fjords and glaciers, and northern lights are the most sought after search terms when foreigners consider a trip to Norway. A report prepared by Bloomberg Consulting and commissioned by Innovation Norway shows a significant increase in searches for Norway as a tourist nation in 2015 and 2016.
The most popular search engines in the world were monitored. These represent 90% of all searches during the period. Norway was associated with natural beauty in online searches as well. Many people also search for specific product information, such as attractions, destinations, cruises, accommodation and winter activities.
“This proves that interest in Norway is increasing. The results coincide well with the attractions we have been promoting in the tourism industry over time, “says Bente Bratland Holm, Tourism Director of Innovation Norway.
There were nearly two million searches for ‘natural wonders’ followed by 1,350,000 searches for ‘fjords and glaciers’ and 450,000 searches for ‘northern lights’.
The Germans are on the top of the search list with almost a million searches, but Americans show the highest increase, 34 percent from 2015 with 640,000 searches. In 2016 there were 5.8 million tourism-related searches for Norway, an increase of 24 per cent from the previous year.
Germany is the largest market for Norwegian tourism, so it’s natural to see them on top, but it’s exciting to follow the United States, who lately has been showing an increase, both in interest and actual visits,” says Bratland Holm.
Big potential in the luxury segment
A search that is very noticeable is “luxury tourism”. Between 2015 and 2016, the number increased by 614 per cent, from 1560 searches to 11 140 searches. Although the numbers are still low compared to nature-based searches, it displays a good idea of the possibilities available in the other segment.
“It’s natural to think that Norway is increasingly becoming available in markets that traditionally have many high end travelers,” Holm says, “but It’s not necessarily about five star hotels and private butlers, but about the exotic experiences only we can offer.”
Top 10 Keywords Most Wanted In 2016:
Natural wonders
Fjords and glaciers
Northern lights
Tourism packages and products
Tourism
Holiday packages
Tourism attractions
Busy
Cruises
Holiday accommodation
Most active countries
Germany
United States
United Kingdom
Spain
France
Netherlands
Italy
Denmark
Sweden
Switzerland
“Despite terrorism and unrest in many places, people’s wanderlust is growing. Norway also saw a marked growth in the number of foreign tourists,” according to the Bloomberg report.
Facts about the report:
The reports contain 63 main categories, which have 232 subcategories.
The reports include over 150,000 tourism-related keywords in 15 languages: English, German, Spanish, Russian, French, Italian, Portuguese, Chinese, Japanese, Dutch, Finnish, Korean, Polish, Swedish and Danish.
The report covers the most widely used search engines in the world, representing 90 percent of all searches in the period.
All photos: Innovation Norway
Feature image (on top): Hurtigruten with northern lights in Tromsø
What Tourists Want to Know Before Visiting Norway, written by Tor Kjolberg
Read also:
Norway – Worth a Visit