Ferðavenjur Íslendinga - 01.02.1998, Qupperneq 28

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Ferðavenjur Islendinga 1996
the Nordic countries, the highest percentage being among
children, 31%. Other European countries were the destina-
tion in 59% of all trips abroad, and among 65-74-year-olds
this was the most popular destination, visited in 63% of their
trips. Trips to countries outside Europe are significant only
for the age group 25-64 who made 16% of their trips to those
destinations. As for individual countries, the United King-
dom was the most popular destination, attracting 16% of all
trips, followed by Spain and Denmark. Ovemight stays on
outbound trips were most numerous in Spain, or 23%, a much
higher percentage than for any other country. Denmark was
second in line, with 13% of the ovemight stays. Almost 38%
of trips made by people aged 65-74 were to Spain and that is
where over half of the overnights stays of this age group were
spent. The length of stay, however, varied greatly according
to destinations. Figure 7 shows the difference in the ratio of
trips as compared with overnight stays. The length of stay on
a trip to Spain was clearly much longer than, for instance, on
a trip to the UK, Ireland or Germany.
The choice of accommodation on outbound trips was
mainly hotels and guesthouses. This applies to 41% of the
children and this proportion increases as the tourists become
older. The age group 65-74 years stayed in hotels or guest-
houses in 77% of their overnight stays. In general, the ratio
of overnight stays in hotels and guesthouses is somewhat
lower than the ratio of trips in the younger age groups, a ratio
that rises with higher age, cf. Figure 8. Second to hotels and
guesthouses the most common type of accommodation is
with relatives or friends, or in 21% of ovemight stays. This
is particularly true of children and younger people but less so
for those who are oider. On the other hand, overnight stays
spent with relatives and friends were relatively more numer-
ous than the number of trips to them, the ratio of ovemight
stays with relatives and friends being 33% while the ratio of
trips was 21%. This means that tourists usually made longer
trips when staying with relatives and friends abroad than
when they stayed in hotels and guesthouses.
Not surprisingly, aircraft was the means of transport for the
longest stretch of each trip in 99% of outbound trips. Other
means of transport, such as ships, ferries or private cars, were
the exception. The private car became the principal means of
transport, however, in such rare cases where travel by car
became a longer stretch of the whole trip than the stretch
travelled by ship or aircraft to and from the country.
The survey included questions as to whether the tourists
had been assisted by a travel agency when planning their
trips. Approximately half of them had done so and there was
very little difference between age groups. Still there was a
slight tendency for younger people to consult travel agencies
to a lesser degree than older tourists. The main reason for
consulting travel agencies was in regard to package tours,
which accounted for 64% of all trips planned by travel
agencies.
Purpose of trips
In the survey trips were divided into two main categories
according to purpose, trips for recreation or business. The
first category includes travelling for leisure, recreation or
holidays, such as sports tours, visits to relatives and friends
and trips for cultural purposes. The main purpose of a trip
determines the category. It is not uncommon for people to
extend a business trip to include a trip for recreation as well.
Still, if the reason for making the trip in the first place is for
professional or business purposes, the trip is considered a
business trip.
Summary 17 shows the breakdown of trips by purpose.
The purposes of children’ s trips do not lend themselves to the
above classification and therefore they have been excluded in
the summary. The majority of trips were made for recrea-
tional purposes, or 79% of domestic trips and 63% of out-
bound trips. The highest ratio of business trips was in the age
group 25-64 years, or 11 %—12% of domestic trips and 33-
36% of outbound trips.
Children’s trips
Children make up a special target group in the travel industry
and for this reason it was decided to include their tourism
pattems in the survey. Mothers and single fathers in the
sample werequestioned aboutthe travels oftheirchildren. In
the first place, they were asked whether any of their children
under the age of 16 had accompanied them on their trips and,
secondly, whether any of their children, aged 11-15, had
made a trip without their company. It was not considered
worth while to inquire into the travels of children under the
age of 11 years, making trips unaccompanied by their mother
or father (if single).
Trips made by children aged 11-15 years, unaccompanied
by the responding parent were usually school trips or sports
trips. The proportion of sports trips was highest in the first
four-month period of the year, or 35%, but much lower in the
last four-month period. In the first period, when sports trips
were most common, the most common type of accommoda-
tion was also sleeping-bag accommodation. Furthermore, a
large number of children in this category stayed with rela-
tives and friends, particularly in other seasons than summer.
Children travelling in the company of their parents stayed
mainly in holiday dwellings (37%) or with relatives and
friends (40%). Their destinations on domestic trips were
most often the southem and westem regions, the regions with
the largest share of holiday dwellings. Only 5% of trips made
by children accompanied by their parents were outbound
trips and the most common type of accommodation in these
cases seems to have been in hotels and guesthouses.
7. Data collection and execution of the survey
Background
The survey on Icelandic tourism pattems is part of a coopera-
tion project by Statistics Iceland and other member states of
the European Economic Area (EEA) designed to collect
statistical data for the tourist industry. The primary aim of the
survey is to increase, improve and coordinate the gathering
of information in this sector. Similar surveys are being
conducted at present in other EEA member states.
Questionnaire
The questionnaire was designed with various principles in
mind. It was based, among other things, on instructions
issued by Eurostat on the collection of statistical data for the