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This year’s summer destination of choice: right here at home
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July 4th, 2012
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This article is more than 12 years old.
The number of people choosing to remain in Denmark for their holiday is on the increase. Experts disagree about why
If you don’t plan on crossing the country’s borders during your summer holiday this year, you aren’t alone. According to a recent TNS Gallup survey, 54 percent of those living in Denmark say they expect to take a domestic holiday, solidifying a trend that sees people looking for relaxation, not excitement, during their three weeks away from work.
“During the recession we’ve learnt about something called ‘stay-cation’ where you just stayed at home and saved the money, but now the latest is that you should move calmly from point A to point B,” lifestyle expert, Anne Glad told the TV programme Aftenshowet.
The change, according to Glad, comes as a reaction to children who come back exhausted from an overload of holiday activities, and parents who go back to work feeling as if they need another holiday.
The typical ‘slow-cation’, as Glad called it, involves families going on bike holidays around the country or camping, where for older people it would mean a hiking holiday in the countryside.
Anya Jensen, who usually travels abroad for the summer, will be spending her holiday with her family at her mother’s summerhouse in the coastal Jutland town of Blåvand this year. She hopes to explore the region with her two children by going to the beach and local markets, and by taking day trips to Esbjerg, Legoland and Germany.
“Last year we had a bit of a ‘stay-cation’ but it rained throughout our summer holiday. I think the weather is why many Danish people decide to go abroad,” Anya told The Copenhagen Post.
She hopes that her children will enjoy seeing a part of the country they have never seen before. “I used to travel to the North Sea coast a lot as a child, and it is almost like another country. If the weather plays along, it can be very beautiful there.”
Lise Lyck, of the Centre for Tourism and Culture Management at Copenhagen Business School, agreed with Glad that the trend was partly due to families looking to save money, she disagreed that a domestic holiday had become any more in than before.
“It is a trend we have seen emerge during the recession. The economy is without a doubt the principal reason that more and more people are holding their summer holiday in Denmark and not in Europe,” she told Berlingske newspaper.
Considering spending your summer at home in Denmark? Check out our weekly summer guides.
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