Many Swedes plan to celebrate Christmas and New Year in the Canary Islands and other popular destinations.

The desire for travel has been great and many destinations are fully booked.

In the last week, many have begun to hesitate and fewer have chosen to buy travel for the winter and spring of 2022.

- During Black Friday, there was great interest in booking, but the last three days have been hesitant, says Sandra Miller Kinge, communications manager at Apollo. 

Apollo has had many visitors to the website who were looking for travel, but fewer than usual have taken the step and booked.

Even at Ving, the situation is tentative.

- The new booking rate for travel during the rest of the winter and spring has slowed down.

Since omikron appeared, many choose to wait, says Claes Pellvik, communications manager at Ving.

Is that worrying for you?

- No, we know that there may be changes in the corona situation which means that there will not be a straight line in the recovery for the industry, but we are confident that the underlying need to travel remains, says Claes Pellvik.

Long-haul flights are excluded

According to the travel companies, a trend again seems to be that travelers do not want to go to destinations far away, but instead choose countries closer to Sweden.

This has also been the case during the pandemic.

- Thailand and similar destinations are not at all what they usually are at this time of year.

We have the most travelers to the Canary Islands this Christmas, probably because it feels like a safe destination, says Stefan Chatzopoulos, information manager at Airtours.

Omikron has reduced the booking rate at Airtours as well, but not as much as the company first feared.

- When there were new restrictions last winter, it was also noticeable on the bookings for the summer, but this is not the case this time, says Stefan Chatzopoulos.

Smittoro is not enough to cancel

Apollo, Ving and Airtours state that few travelers have canceled due to omikron.

And wanting to forgo the trip due to concerns about infection or new restrictions is not a valid reason to get the money back from the travel companies.

- We follow the Foreign Ministry's travel recommendations.

Should the Ministry of Foreign Affairs issue a recommendation, the trips will be canceled and you will get your money back.

If there is no such advice, the trips will go as planned, says Claes Pellvik.