Heatwave in Europe boosts German tourists' interest in Baltics

BERLIN - Although air temperatures in Germany have settled down to their usual July levels after the heatwave, the heat spell briefly boosted holidaymakers' interest in the Baltics, southern Norway and Scotland, according to statistics from vacation rental platform FeWo-direkt published on Presseportal.de.

Interest on the platform in accommodation in Riga and Tallinn increased by 25 percent and in the Scottish city of Edinburgh, a UNESCO World Heritage Site, by 20 percent.

"There is no doubt that many Germans continue to spend their summer holidays in countries such as Greece, Spain and Italy," said Wolfgang Pagl, short-term rental space coordinator at FeWo. "However, an increasing number of people are looking for alternative travel destinations that, due to their less extreme climate, are also better suited for families with young children."

The FeWo-direkt platform recorded the same number of search queries for Smaland in southern Sweden as Tenerife, main island of the Canary Islands, which is a popular destination for holidaymakers from mainland Spain to escape stifling heat in summer. The number of search queries for Smaland even exceeded the number of clicks for the Italian resort Rimini.

Queries for rental properties in southern Norway increased by 35 percent in the first two weeks of July compared to the same period in June.

The statistics are based on a comparison of FeWo-direkt searches between June 1 and 14, and July 1 and 14.