Norway
Introduction
Travellers from Norway made 9.2 million outbound visits in 2023, with a total international tourism expenditure of US$18.1 billion.
In 2023, the UK welcomed 600,000 visits from Norway. During the travellers’ visits, their total expenditure was £446.7 million, with an average spend of £745 per visit.
Discover visitor behaviour, travel trade insights, detailed data visualisations for this market – and more. The statistics in this market report are collated from a range of sources such as the Office for National Statistics (ONS), as well as sponsored questions and our own research. For further details, see How we source this information.
Visitor characteristics
- There are considerably more male business visitors than female business visitors from Norway.
- 46% of all visitor spend comes from holiday trips.
- More than four-in-five holiday visitors from Norway are making a repeat trip to Britain (excluding British nationals).
- 99% of departing visitors say they were made to feel either ‘welcome’ or ‘very welcome’ in Britain.
Popular activities for this market
Dining in a restaurant.
Visiting a pub.
Going shopping.
Explore the inbound data in full
Use our visualisations to see data from this market in greater depth and clarity. Compare annual statistics, and filter by age group, gender, trip duration and more. It includes seasonality, trip purpose and regional spread of visitors to UK destinations. These data are based on the International Passenger Survey, conducted by the Office for National Statistics (ONS).
Perceptions of Britain in the Norwegian market
The cultural product or service that Norwegians most highly associate with being produced in Britain is pop videos.
38% believe that a potential visit to Britain would be ‘exciting’.
While highly associated with culture and heritage attributes, France is more closely linked with such measures than Britain.
Britain is more strongly associated with the statement ‘is good for high street shopping’ than its leading competitors.
Britain is not seen as a ‘romantic’ or ‘luxurious’ destination by Norwegians.
One-in-four are keen on the idea of watching an English Premier League football match.
Leading competitor destinations are more closely associated with the statement ‘food and drink is good value for money’ than Britain.
However, a week-long holiday in Britain is expected to be less expensive than an equivalent holiday in leading competitor destinations such as France and Italy.
Global context
Top-level statistics relating to the population, GDP, tourism expenditure and popular destinations for this market. For greater detail on inbound tourism flows from this market to the UK, see our data visualisations.
| Measure | 2023 |
| International tourism expenditure (US$bn) | 18.1 |
| Global rank for international tourism expenditure | 20 |
| Number of outbound visits (m) | 9.2 |
| Most visited destination | Sweden |
Key demographic and economic data
| Measure | 2023 |
| Population (m) | 6 |
| GDP per capita PPP (US$) | 80,245 |
| Annual average GDP growth over past decade (%) | 1.6 |
| Annual GDP growth (%) | 0.7 |
Caring for visitors
Norwegians are very familiar with British culture – in particular Premier League football and British TV programmes.
Cleanliness in accommodation is of importance to visitors from Norway.
While there are many regional dialects in Norway, English is widely understood.
Visitors from Norway are more likely than average to use a credit card while in Britain.
The leisure and travel trade
The Norwegian travel trade can be roughly split into four categories: charter operators, business travel/MICE, online operators and retail travel agents. Many companies offer a mix of these four services.
The key centres for the travel trade are Oslo, Stavanger, Bergen and Trondheim.
There is no distinct planning cycle, so it is possible to do business year-round.
Access to Britain from Norway
The key routes and transport modes that connect this market with the UK.
| Measure | 2023 |
| Weekly aircraft departures | 201 |
| Weekly seat capacity | 31,244 |
| Airports with direct routes in Norway | 6 |
| Airports with direct routes in Britain | 10 |
- Virtually all visits from Norway to Britain are by air.
- The bulk of airline seat capacity is from Oslo to London, although numerous airports in Scotland and other parts of England also offer direct access from Norway.
- In 2023 there are 201 weekly departures, with an average seat capacity of 31,244.
- Following the COVID-19 pandemic, scheduled seat capacity on non-stop flights from Norway to the UK has recovered to 93% of 2019 levels in 2023.
- The current rate of Air Passenger Duty for visitors departing Britain for Norway is £13.
Further resources
Norway Market Snapshot.pdf
Norway Market Snapshot
Norway Market Profile
A market profile of Norway and its outbound travel to the UK
Norway Aviation Profile
A fact sheet of Norway's aviation figures and outbound travel
Norway COVID-19 Travel Sentiment
Norway's COVID-19 Travel Sentiment summary
Where visitors from Norway to the UK reside in their own country.xlsx
Where visitors from Norway to the UK reside in their own country
Perceived barriers to exploring Britain beyond London for Norwegians
Perceived barriers to exploring Britain beyond London for Norwegians
How we source this information
We work with a number of data sources to provide a rich and insightful picture of our key inbound source markets. This includes, but is not limited to, data provided by Oxford Economics, the UNWTO, Apex, Anholt-Ipsos Nation Brands Index and from our own surveys and ad-hoc research. The largest share of these data comes from the International Passenger Survey (IPS) by the ONS.
Visit our About the International Passenger Survey page for more information on how this data is collected and analysed.
