It’s clear it’s time to maximize the sun and the heat

Norwegians pulled out the card for NOK 12.5 billion between June 20 and July 17 this year, according to DNB’s latest figures on their customers’ spending.

This is a seven percent increase from the regular year 2019.

What we’re spending the most on right now is experiences and services that we haven’t been able to access during the pandemic, according to the numbers.

– This indicates that we did not apply an emergency brake to our use of the card. On the contrary, we allowed it to return to almost normal in 2019, so the kind of vacation we had before the pandemic is starting, says Ein Avtidahl, director of data transfer at DNB.

We spent the most money on this

The figures for DNB customers show that this year it is being implemented abroad.

– The use of foreign cards is 15 percent higher than the average year, so after two summers in Norway, it’s clear it’s time to maximize the sun and heat, Oftedal believes.

And in typical southern destinations, we left most of the money behind.

– It has grown tremendously this year. Oftedal says Spain has dumped Sweden from first place, then other destinations in the south have followed suit.

At the same time, it assures that Denmark and Sweden, which are the typical destinations, still have good potential.

– What do we spend the most money on?

This is what we have missed most during the pandemic. Perhaps the keywords are comfort, convenience, and experiences: We go out to restaurants and bars, we travel a lot, and we enjoy concerts, cinema, and socializing a lot, says Oftedal.

local changes

However, not everyone has been out, and a large number are still enjoying summer in their home country of Norway, the expert believes.

– Here, too, the holiday looks very different than it did during the pandemic. We slowed down more, stayed longer all around, and went back to the big cities, Oftedal says.

She says people have stayed away from major cities during the pandemic due to the high level of infection.

– This year, however, we are really back in the big cities, says the expert.

Facing a harsh autumn

Many are going through a difficult fall in the face of high interest rates and rising prices.

– Should we be more economical?

– We didn’t put any emergency brakes, but the most important thing is to use the card daily. So I will let the Norwegians enjoy a good, long-awaited summer vacation, says Oftedal.

So perhaps we should see the big numbers adjust a little bit after summer when autumn comes and daily life, Oftedal thinks.

Compared to other countries, we see higher spending here in Norway, according to the expert.

– There will probably be a little higher consumption with us, but here it is important to remember that we have to take the big numbers when the whole summer holidays are over. We don’t know, for example, whether people went on vacation a little earlier this year and then calmed down, or whether card use will remain the same throughout the rest of the summer, Oftedal believes.

DNB card data shows that customers swiped the card for 429 million NOK in Spain during the summer holidays. Sweden ranks second, with the consumption of Norwegians being 412 million NOK.

Denmark ranks third in terms of foreign destinations.