Covid-Holidays and Sustainability: Exploring Holiday Travel Experiences of Norwegians During the Covid-19 Pandemic

The tourism industry contributes significantly to climate change, mainly through greenhouse gas emissions from transportation. In order to reduce emissions, we need to travel shorter distances, less frequently and by flying less. By restricting global mobility, the covid-19 pandemic has induced all these changes and had an unprecedented impact on the tourism industry. This thesis discusses the implications of the covid-19 pandemic for making tourism more sustainable in the long term. It does so through exploring the holiday experiences of Norwegian travellers during the summer of the covid-19 pandemic in 2020. Through in-depth interviews, the thesis investigates the aspects of travel motivations, transportation modes and the place of holiday travel in an alternative ‘good life’. The holiday experiences of the interview participants during the pandemic are analysed from the perspective of environmental sustainability. Social practice theory and modernity theory make up the main theoretical background of the analysis. The study finds that participants, to whom travelling abroad had been a yearly habit before the pandemic, tried out a summer holiday with only domestic travel and no flying, and they had positive experiences. The data suggests that the covid-19 crisis can provide an opportunity for making holiday travel more sustainable in all discussed areas. At the same time, the findings also indicate that participants are likely to return to their carbon-intensive holiday practices as soon as it becomes possible. To avoid this, interventions in all elements of holiday practices are necessary as well as a societal redefinition of ‘the good life’ and the role of holiday travel in it.