Love of travel reaching new heights in 2015
It is no secret that Danes love to travel. A survey conducted by Copenhagen Airport indicates that Danes expect to travel even more in 2015 than they did in 2014. Especially the younger age groups are planning to travel abroad more. Following the 2014 passenger record, Copenhagen Airport is making room for even more travel-hungry Danes with a major extension of the airport.
Whether it is city breaks, beach holidays or business travel – for the Danes, travelling has become a lifestyle and something that is high on our list of priorities. Where travelling used to be a luxury, today it is not unusual for Danes to make several trips a year. In 2015, 67% of the population are planning to fly abroad. This represents a 14% increase over 2014, according to market research conducted by the research institute Analyse Danmark on behalf of Copenhagen Airport.
More than half of the Danish population travelled by air in 2014, and Copenhagen Airport set yet another passenger record. Over 25 million passengers travelled through the airport last year, and Copenhagen Airport has prepared a plan to accommodate the many travelling Danes. The vision is for the airport to have enough capacity to accommodate 40 million passengers a year.
“We are very focused on the Danes' love of travel, and we're doing what we can to enhance it further when they visit the airport. Service is key, but the physical facilities are also an important element in a positive travel experience. Therefore, we are adding 700 sqm. to Terminal 2 and building two additional security screening lanes. It will all be ready for the busy summer season,” said Copenhagen Airport passenger manager Marie-Louise Lotz.
Travelling strengthens our sense of identity
According to lifestyle expert Anne Glad from the Danish TV lifestyle show “Kender du typen”, the growing desire to travel can in part be explained by the financial crisis, which created a counter-reaction to the materialistic lifestyle:
“Generally, acquiring new knowledge is an important asset in times of crisis, when focus is on knowledge rather than on physical belongings. We focused more on non-material values and prioritised travelling, to expand our horizon as well as to win recognition from our peers.”
In 2014, more than half of all young people aged 18-29 travelled abroad by air, and in 2015 three in four of this age group expect to book a trip abroad by air. According to Anne Glad, there is a general perception among young people that you are not interesting unless you are into travelling:
“It's become completely matter-of-course to take your morning coffee in Berlin and to check out your favourite artists' international tour plans – the world has become a smaller place.”
Anne Glad also believes that the social media give us a platform to showcase our love of travel in a new way, which helps strengthen our identity. These new media forms also bring out our gregarious nature, and someone posting a notice about a long weekend in London soon inspires others to go, too.
Click here for more information on the 2014 passenger record and here for more on the extension of Copenhagen Airport.
About the survey
The survey examined the travel habits of the Danes and was conducted by Analyse Danmark on behalf of Copenhagen Airport.
Analyse Danmark conducted the survey in the period 16-23 December 2014, with 1058 respondents aged 18-74 taking part. The method applied was stratified random sampling by gender, age and geography (region) to reflect the composition of the population in terms of these parameters. The data are weighted by gender, age and region according to Statistics Denmark's distributions.
See the survey here.
For additional information, please contact Communications Officer Camilla Borggaard at +45 4018 1912 or camilla.borggaard@ext.cph.dk