Survey: Finnish households plan to spend more on summer holidays than do Swedes

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A Nordic survey commissioned by the Nordea banking group suggests that this year Finns estimate to spend an average of EUR 1,410 per household on their summer holidays, while Swedes intend to spend only EUR 1,375 on average.
      The information is based on a questionnaire, asking for respondents’ summer holiday plans.
     
Through the ages, Swedes have travelled more and spent more while travelling than have Finns, leading to envious looks towards the western neighbours.
      In comparison, last spring the same survey indicated that Swedes planned to spend clearly more on their summer holidays than did Finns.
      This year Swedes estimate that their holiday cash reserves are 9 per cent smaller than in the previous year, while the corresponding drop in Finland is only 3 per cent.
      According to Private Economist Tarja Svartström of Nordea, the new development could already be seen prior to Christmas, when Swedes spent less money than did Finns.
      Svartström explains the phenomenon by the fact that Swedish households have invested more in shares and mutual funds than have Finns. Hence the recent reduction in value of such investments has naturally hurt them more.
      However, the weakened economic outlook can also be seen in the holiday plans of Finns. Taking into account the increased consumer prices, realistically the holiday budgets of Finns have shrunk by around 6 per cent.
     
Struggling with the unstable housing market, Danes have also tightened their holiday budget belts, having reduced their holiday cash reserves by 6 per cent in terms of euros, Svartström reports.
      However, the average holiday budget of Danish households is EUR 1,690, which is higher than the cash reserved by Finns for their summer holidays.
     
Oil-rich Norwegians are the biggest holiday spenders, as Norwegian households plan to spend an average of EUR 2,515 for upcoming holidays.
      Over 4,000 households were interviewed for a survey Nordea commissioned from marketing research company Synovate in the four Nordic countries.


Links:
  Nordea press release 10.6.2008: Smaller holiday cash reserves in Finland

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