Some quick facts and figures:

• Danes spend 46% more per trip than the European average, while Finns spend 25% more and Swedes 8%.
• Before the pandemic, Finland, Sweden, Denmark, and Norway ranked in the world’s top five for outbound travel frequency, with Finland at #1.
• Nordic travel and tourism spending is projected to reach US$20.8 billion in 2025, with growth to nearly US$28 billion by 2030.
• After the pandemic, Nordic outbound travel spending rebounded faster than in Germany, France, or the UK, showing resilience and strong demand for international experiences.

Investments made on marketing and localising for this group will therefore be returned handsomely in the form of more bookings, bigger spends and an enhanced reputation. We have already helped numerous clients to target Nordic travellers, and below you can read some tips and insight on how it’s done best!

Searches Start Local

The first thing you need to understand when targeting Nordic travellers is an apparent paradox at the heart of what they want and how they go about finding it. The thing is, Nordic travellers often seek authentic experiences – they want to feel immersed in another culture and context, and they don’t necessarily like it when everything is handed to them on a silver platter. They want to eat paella in Valencia and Bouillabaisse in Marseille, surrounded by locals, without feeling like they’ve been sucked into a tourist trap.

At the same time, however, studies consistently show that their searches begin in their own language. Despite high levels of English proficiency, the quest for authenticity begins not in a lingua franca or in a foreign tongue, but in Swedish, Danish, Norwegian or Finnish. This means that websites that cater to these languages will be in prime position to soak up those initial queries, even if they then direct visitors onwards to subpages in English. The important thing is to catch web users at the beginning of their search, and to do that – you need to speak their language.

Information Is Gold

Another defining characteristic of Nordic travellers is that they like to be well informed. Rather than simply pick a place and wing it, they tend to research their destinations more thoroughly, carefully plan out activities and take steps to make sure they will get as much out of their holiday as they possibly can. This means the more information they can find on your website, the more likely they are to fall down a rabbit hole and remain on your page for longer, building a stronger relationship with your brand and perhaps ultimately making a booking.

 Of course, the quality of this information is also important. Nordic consumers are discerning, and quick to become mistrustful of anything that might betray a lack of seriousness. Typos and confusing language will quickly be interpreted as red flags, making Nordic users reluctant to trust your brand, product or service. It is therefore important to make sure the text on your website is polished, fluent, up-to-date and free from grammatical errors, typos and other warning signs that might risk eroding confidence.

A good idea might be to include some original copy on your website with texts that directly target Nordic readers. These could cover practical details such as currency exchange rates and information about the local transit system, or they might explore local attractions, tips on when to visit certain sights, and recommendations for great places to eat, drink or sleep. Texts that are designed from the outset to address Nordic concerns and tap into current travel trends in this region will have excellent chances of convincing and converting.

Reviews Build Confidence

We know from our own experience that Nordic travellers place a lot of trust in reviews, and so by making them more accessible on your website, you can do a lot to eliminate doubts and nudge visitors along in their customer journey.

There are various ways you can do this. One is to use an AI feature to automatically translate reviews. This is quick and convenient, and it means that new reviews can be made automatically accessible to users in any language. However, odd turns of phrase and mistakes in the translation can quickly erode the value of these reviews, causing them to be ignored.

Another option is to have a selection of reviews localised professionally on an on-going basis and included in a widget on your website or featured as standalone testimonials. This can be done as part of a post-editing workflow, meaning that AI does the heavy lifting to keep the process quick and affordable, while a human linguist reviews each text to make sure it can serve its purpose. This strikes a good compromise between speed and efficiency, while also taking measures to raise quality and thereby protect the value of these reviews.

Target the Nordics with Us

If you would like to deploy some of the tactics described above and target Nordic travellers, we can help you in a range of different ways. For example, we could begin with a market entry consultation in order to help you better identify your target group on the basis of your existing web traffic, current industry trends and your objectives for the coming year. Next, we can proceed to localise all or parts of your website, and/or create  original copy that addresses specific Nordic concerns or opportunities. We can also help you to create content for a Google Ads campaign, and provide advice on what channels to use and what angle to take.

For more information, check out our case study which shows how we helped a holiday home platform in the Nordics to grow, or head over to our contact page where you can book a free, no-obligation consultation to talk through the options.

We are your linguistic gateway to the Nordics – and we’re ready and waiting to help connect the dots between you and lots more lucrative Nordic travellers!

The post Targeting Nordic Travellers appeared first on Comunica.

As keen observers of the sector, we’re always up to the minute on the latest trends and developments – so that we can advise our clients on how best to adapt their content and tap into current demands within each specific market they wish to attract. In this article, you can read about some of the travel trends that are big or on the rise right now:

Noctourism

This term was coined recently to describe a phenomenon that is by no means new, but sharply rising in popularity. As the name suggests, noctourism is the practice of exploring cities and destinations at night. It includes things like:

• An after-hours jungle safari or a northern lights experience

• A foodie adventure through a bustling night market

• A visit to a lit-up downtown area or an illuminated museum

Sometimes, the point is to experience things you can only see at night. Other times, it’s an opportunity to escape the bustle or get a new perspective. In many places, the trend is a response to overcrowding and soaring temperatures in daylight hours.

For businesses in the tourism sector, it means an opportunity to accommodate fresh demand for a new style of tourism as well as the possibility to extend operating hours. It is also a crucial necessary insight that can help keep you relevant and in demand.

Sustainable Travel

Unsurprisingly in 2025, sustainability features higher and higher on travellers’ lists of priorities. Train, bus and ferry travel are all up, eco-hotels are spreading, and, in general, customers are actively seeking out both accommodations and experiences that are gentle on both people and planet.

In Denmark, for example, travellers consistently report that sustainability factors feature high among their reasons for choosing this country. Bicycle culture and organic food options in particular standout as some of the eco-benefits that this country can boast about.

In the capital, Copenhagen, there are more bikes than there are people, with around 62% of Copenhagen’s commuting to work or school by bike everyday. Tourists can easily rent bikes themselves and make use of the city’s superlative cycling infrastructure to whizz around from sight to sight.

Coolcations

Coolcations are a rising travel trend where tourists seek cooler destinations instead of traditional hot-weather holidays. It is driven by a combination of overcrowding in traditional destinations and increasingly severe summer heatwaves that create demand for an opportunity to cool-off.

In Europe especially, travellers are turning away from overheated Mediterranean resorts and heading north, making the Nordic countries prime beneficiaries. With their mild summers, striking landscapes, and sustainable tourism practices, places like Iceland, Norway, Sweden, and Finland offer glacier hikes, midnight sun kayaking, forest saunas and vibrant coastal villages. Plus, unlike newer destinations adopting the trend, the Nordics have long embodied this lifestyle – thriving in crisp air and integrating wellness, nature and culture into everyday life.

Read More

If you are interested in reading more about some of the trends mentioned here, check out our post on sustainable tourism and how translation can play a role in influencing traveller behaviours here.

Be sure to also check out our helpful guide to destination marketing for ideas on how you can draw on the appeal of your destination (and the ways it connects with these trends) to boost your business.

And if you’d like to know more about all the ways we can help, get in touch to book a free consultation or receive a quote – let’s create something impactful together!

The post Travel Trends to Watch appeared first on Comunica.

A great way to do this is through destination marketing. Even if you represent a smaller business such as a hotel or a tour provider, you can leverage the appeal of your destination to collect clicks – and then gently nudge netizens towards your particular business. After all, in most cases, it’s the destination people are coming to see and experience, so why not make the most of its unique selling power?

In this blog post, we’re going to explore three great content types you can use in destination marketing, as well as the pitfalls and advantages that come with them. Read on to learn more and discover how you can use this content to drive conversions and better target your marketing efforts.

Lists & Guides

Planning a trip can be overwhelming. There is so much information out there, and today, most travellers want to find something unique and escape the crowds that flock to the must-see sights. This means that comprehensive, well-written lists are like gold dust for would-be travellers – especially if they’re tailored to a particular type of visitor (outdoorsy, culture vulture, book worm, etc) and full of practical information that makes trip planning easier. Here’s what to consider when creating this content:

• Start with a hidden gem or a unique insight. For example, if you’re promoting Paris, then kicking off with the Eiffel Tower won’t exactly help you stand out. But a Japanese-inspired patisserie in the Marais, or an independent gallery in the shadow of the Pompidou? That signals insider info and will help you stand out as a useful resource.
• Stay up-to-date. The second your reader discovers that an attraction or a business on your list has closed down, they’ll dismiss your entire publication as out of date and untrustworthy. You will need to review your lists at regular intervals and remove or adapt them as necessary, otherwise they might arouse suspicion rather than interest.
•  Consider adapting for different markets. If localising into a handful of languages, look at the latest market data and insights and tailor your lists depending on what you know visitors in certain countries are after. For example, domestic travellers and visitors from nearby countries will have different knowledge and interests compared to others from farther afield. The local cuisine, meanwhile, may hold great appeal to visitors from certain destinations but not from others, and so a tailored approach will always yield the greatest effect.

Itineraries

Itineraries are a great and very practical format. Not only do they help visitors decide what to see and do, but they also contribute practical suggestions around how to organise a trip and combine different activities. This can be very valuable to first-time visitors who don’t know the layout of the city and maybe have questions about the best way to get from one neighbourhood to another. Just be sure to keep the following in mind:

• Keep it realistic. We’ve previously seen the itinerary format misused as a way to cram in lots of different tips and ideas together. This might seem like a good way to  create value, but readers expect itineraries to be feasible and realistic. Suggesting three museums in one morning – especially if they’re miles apart – is more likely to irritate than inspire. Instead, mix culture with relaxation and let geography guide you for an attainable itinerary that your readers can actually follow.
• Hone in on a specific traveller type. Rather than attempting to create an itinerary that will please everyone, create content that aligns with what you offer and target a certain category of traveller. This might be a foodie itinerary that takes in the local specialities with regular rest-stops in the town’s trendiest cafés, or maybe an arts-and-culture tour with book shops, design stores and architectural highlights. Adapt your localised versions, too, and make sure your suggestions are relevant to each individual market.

YouTube City Tours

Visual content will always pack more of a punch, especially given the power that images have to connect with us emotionally and encapsulate a destination’s wow factor. YouTube is increasingly used as a source of information and inspiration ahead of a trip because it prepares us like no other medium for what to expect and it gets us excited for all the sights we are going to see and experience. Our tips for this content:

• Plan your shoot and time it right. Don’t just head out aimlessly with your camera. Instead, use Google Maps to plan your route and try and film on a day when the sun is shining. Take in the most popular spots at less popular times to avoid capturing hordes of tourists, and shoot as much content during golden hour as you can. Consider also whether it might be worth filming on a specific market day or when there are light shows or fountain displays taking place.
• Use a fast-forward effect to create a sense of place. Actually walk between the different attractions or sites you choose to highlight and film the route, then speed it up in the edit. This gives you a nice little transition between segments that also performs a practical function in that it helps viewers see how the different pieces of the destination connect together like a jigsaw puzzle.
• Film in the local language and use quality localised subtitles to increase accessibility. The more languages you offer, the more viewers you can reach and really connect with – while simultaneously offering an audio snapshot of the cityscape. This will create a deeper emotional connection and a better user experience than filming in broken or imperfect English and it will feel like a more immersive and authentic cultural experience for your viewers. Plus, speaking the local language boosts your authority as an expert who has genuine local tips to offer.

Create & Localise with Us

We hope you’re now feeling inspired to create some quality destination marketing content that can channel users to your website. These three options above are just a few of the many different options you can explore – be sure to also consider social media posts and videos for Reels and Stories, long-form articles, comprehensive guides, news stories and even live streams or podcasts.

Whatever route you decide to go down, we can help you with all steps along the way. From cultural consultancy and market insights to content creation, localisation and performance monitoring. 

At Comunica, we’re experts in multilingual communication and the tourism sector, whether you’re looking to attract visitors to or from the Nordics, or from somewhere else entirely.

For more inspiration, check out our blog post on sustainable tourism and localisation – or contact us today for a free consultation and discover what we can create together. 

The post Destination Marketing Content appeared first on Comunica.

But is that where translation’s role ends, or can it do more than just bridge the communication gap abroad? In this edition of the blog, we’re going to be looking at whether translation can influence consumer trends and habits in the tourism sector. And more specifically, we will be considering whether translation can be used to direct holidaymakers away from overcrowded destinations that are ready to buckle under the pressure of their own popularity, and towards more sustainable destinations.

So, fasten your seatbelts, stow your tray table and let’s find out how translation can accelerate the shift towards sustainable tourism!

What is Sustainable Tourism?

First things first, what actually is sustainable tourism? According to the UN World Tourism Organisation, sustainable tourism is: “tourism that takes full account of its current and future economic, social and environmental impacts, addressing the needs of visitors, the industry, the environment and host communities.”

The concept has become more pertinent in recent years, and especially after the post-pandemic bounce back of the travel sector, as many popular destinations are facing serious pressure from the large influxes they see each summer. Classic examples include Venice, which has had to resort to introducing an entry fee for day-trippers, and Barcelona, where residents have long since called for tighter regulation of the short-term rental market in the city.

Meanwhile, the effects of social media virality have meant that certain destinations and even individual businesses have seen massive increases in their popularity, putting pressure on local infrastructure and changing the fabric of the place entirely. Consider for example the popular old-world bookshop Livraria Lello in Porto, Portugal, which had to begin charging an entrance fee in 2016 after it became a viral sensation online.

Sustainable tourism destinations are therefore usually places that have plenty to offer but tend not to receive as many visitors. They are often historic, beautiful and brimming with things to do, from local culture to nature and wildlife, but not half as popular as their more famous counterparts.

According to a BBC Travel article published in early 2024, sustainable destinations this summer included cities such as Valencia in Spain, Singapore and Belfast in Northern Ireland. The list also features areas of outstanding natural beauty such as the Atlas Mountains in Morocco and Australia’s Southern Great Barrier Reef, as well as the entire nations of Greenland and Panama.

How Can Translation Promote Sustainable Tourism?

It has become impossible for holidaymakers to ignore the issue of overtourism and the need for sustainable alternatives. This year, for example, many visitors to Spain came face to face with angry residents as they took to the streets to protest. As a result, the popularity of sustainable tourism has begun to grow. This is driven not just out of ethical considerations, but practical ones, too – travellers are tired of long queues, rubbing shoulders with strangers on the beach and generally feeling unwanted in certain destinations.

This situation presents a huge opportunity for tourism operators in off-the-beaten track destinations, but one that can only be leveraged through greater visibility and targeted communication strategies. As readers of the blog will know (and indeed anyone familiar with the localisation sector and why it matters), internet users almost invariably search in their native languages, and they are quickly turned off by content that sounds hollow or unconvincing. And so, given that most trips start with a search, good-quality translations and localised, multilingual websites could potentially play a key role in rediverting traffic towards hidden-gem destinations – especially if combined with strategic SEO and perhaps even an AdWords campaign.

Thus, by taking a savvy and considered approach to the translation, localisation and dissemination of their marketing materials, tourism businesses in sustainable destinations could potentially harness the growing appetite for alternative options and help shape wider trends in the sector. Early adopters and pioneers in particular will be well positioned to help build the reputation of their destination and take their share of the proverbial pie ahead of potential competitors.

Sustainable Tourism to and from the Nordics

Beyond looking to reduce tourist numbers, many destinations are also adopting strategies to attract what they refer to as high-value tourists. Rather than tourists who travel with budget airlines, stay in hostels and primarily spend their time sunbathing or drinking alcohol, high-value travellers are those who spend money on luxury dining, five-star hotels and bespoke experiences. They are attractive because they enable destinations to bring in large amounts of (often essential) tourism revenue while still reducing overall visitor numbers.

These travellers can of course come from all four corners of the world, but according to the International Travel & Health Insurance Journal, the Nordic countries typically represent a gold mine of high-value travellers. This is generally due to the relatively high levels of disposable income that abound in the Nordics. Other factors include the long Nordic winters and generous holiday allowances in these countries, making the Nordic markets a good year-round source of tourism income.

Meanwhile, travel operators in the Nordic Region can also benefit from changing habits as travellers reconsider the sustainability of classic destinations. Especially given that the soaring temperatures experienced recently by southern European destinations are further putting off potential visitors, prompting them to seek out so-called ‘coolcations’ instead. According to a survey in Germany for tourist organization Visit Sweden, two out of five people asked have changed their travel habits due to both the heat and the crowds in southern Europe. This is a trend that has driven foreign overnight stays to rise by 22% in Norway and 11% in Sweden in 2023, and which only looks set to continue in the years to come.

Some destinations in the Nordics already making efforts to attract sustainable-minded travellers include:

• Narvik in Norway: A destination in northern Norway that combines mountains and fjords. It is also the end point for the only train line in Europe to start in a capital city and end in the arctic circle! Narvik is a certified Sustainable Destination under Norway’s national labelling scheme for eco-tourism.
• West Sweden: A region blessed with dense forests, mountains and thousands of lakes. A pioneering local initiative promotes climate-smart holidays and also seeks to boost greater integration between residents and visitors.
• Odense in Denmark: The third largest city in Denmark, Odense is brimming with cultural activities and is best known as the birthplace of Hans Christian Andersen. The city actively works to make it easy for visitors to make green choices, and it receives considerably fewer visitors each year than the capital Copenhagen.

Start your Sustainable Journey with Comunica!

At Comunica, we have ample experience in providing translation and localisation services for the tourism industry, and we can help you with everything from choosing the most suitable translation solution for your needs to incorporating SEO. So, whether you’re a tourism operator interested in reaching out to high-value Nordic travellers, or a destination within the region interested in benefiting from the coolcation craze, we can help you create targeted, localised translations that will have your readers packing their bags in no time. Call or email us today for a no-obligation quote and discover how with us, translation can play a role in our transition to a more sustainable society.

The post Translation & Sustainable Tourism appeared first on Comunica.