The Norwegian currency Norwegian Krone is at an historical low point, and you can buy 11.40 NOK for €1 EUR or 10.31 NOK for $1 USD. This low value makes Norway the cheapest it has ever been for international tourism, and people from Europe, the US and even Asia seem to be taking advantage of the cheap booking already!
The currency value at such low is a huge difference to back in years like 2014 where you only got 5.8 NOK for $1 USD. This means that you get almost double the amount of goods for the same amount of USD compared to 10 years ago!
The tourism industry in Norway is expecting a big increase in tourism this summer season as a direct effect of the low value of the Norwegian krone, and many hotels and tour operators are already seeing this increase reflected in bookings all over the country.
As of right now, pretty much all major currencies like Euro, USD and British pounds are very strong against the Norwegian krone, making Norway a cheaper country to visit compared to just a few years ago. The only big exception is the Japanese yen, which is currently facing similar problems as the Norwegian krone (so go visit Japan if you can’t come to Norway!).
Is now the perfect time to visit Norway?
Norway is a typical destination where people plan for a long time before visiting, and the weak Krone has given many people the opportunity to actually make their dream of visiting Norway a reality.
It is unknown of the Norwegian krone will remain weak over the whole summer season, and several economical analytics are actually arguing that it will rise against the major currencies in the coming month.
If this is the case, then it might be a good idea to book and pay for accommodations and other costs that can be paid up front as early as possible, giving you the biggest value for your buck.
That said, the Norwegian krone is under no circumstance expected to have a huge surge in value, so even with a rise in value, it will still be significantly cheaper than usual.
More Norwegians will stay in Norway in the summer holiday
Norwegians tend to love going to southern Europe in the summer vacation, and this is historically the best season for tour operators who sell international vacations.
But the weak Krone is wrecking havoc on Norwegians who want to escape Norway for the summer, since the historically weak krone makes it very expensive to travel to and stay in other countries.
This has lead to an increase in hotel bookings and other bookings by Norwegians who are looking to spend their time traveling internally in Norway.
As with previous years, Norwegians so far seem to be attracted towards the natural attractions such as the famous hikes (like Trolltunga, Pulpit Rock, Besseggen etc.) and other natural attractions, so you are more likely to meet actual Norwegian tourists if you’re coming to these places this summer.
Why the Norwegian krone is weak
There is no easy answer as to why the Norwegian krone is weak, and economists are debating a lot over the actual reason. However, many of them agree that the following things are likely part of the reason why the Norwegian krone is valued so low:
- A high inflation in the US and Europe is making Norway a less attracting place to invest money in.
- There is a high level of economical doubt in the global markets, which traditionally makes bigger economies a safer investment.
- The oil price is falling, which has a historical correlation with the price of the Norwegian krone.
That said, there are likely many more reasons that also play a part in it, and there is no easy answer that fully explains the current turmoil of the Norwegian krone.
How much does a visit to Norway even cost?
Norway has long been known as being an expensive country to visit, so let’s take a closer look at how much you should be expecting to pay for a visit here.
The average sum spend on a complete visit to Norway is at 1,680 NOK ($163 USD) per person per day. This means that a family of four should expect to pay around 47,040 NOK ($4,500 USD) for a full week here. The sum includes all costs (food, accommodation and entertainment), but not the actual flight itself.
While $4,500 for a week in Norway is a lot of money, the same number would be closer to $8,000 if you had decided to visit Norway in 2014 instead of 2023!
The number is based on the actual average sum spent, and it’s definitely a lot of options for those looking to visit Norway on a budget.
If you want a deep dive into the numbers, check out the article about tourism statistics for Norway. We go into a lot of details about how much money tourist spend on different things over there.
Nicklas is the owner and editor of The Norway Guide, and is responsible for most of the content on the website.
He lives in Skien, Norway with his wife and two children. Nicklas is specialized in Norwegian ecology (including Norway’s geology, wildlife and flora) from his degree in Ecology And Nature Management at University of South-Eastern Norway, but has a particular interest in tourism and content creation.
His biggest hobbies are fishkeeping, going on hikes with his dog, and rooting for the local football team.
Hello,
I think you don´t understand what weak norwegian krone means.
If you compare dollar and nok and let´s say you have been working for the last 10 years in Norway it means that you can buy 2 times less if you are paid in nok. So you are getting more and more poor in a long term in you compared it to eur or dollar.
Nok is definitely in a long term not a good place to have money.
And it does not make any sense to write that you will have more tourists. 😀
Yes maybe you will have but all people are getting more and more poor if you compare it to euro or dollar. So if I worked in Norway I would definitely not be happy about weak nok.
Hello, John.
Yes, I do know what it means, and you’re mixing things up. A weak krone is great for tourists who come visit Norway. It’s terrible for anyone working in Norway or getting paid in Norwegian kroner.
This article is about tourists who are coming to Norway, and not people looking to move to Norway. No one living in Norway is happy about the weak krone, but tourists who want to advantage of the comparably higher value of USD and EUR will get a bargain the coming summer.
Why do you not think that this will attract tourists?
Best regards
Nicklas
Hello Nicklas,
ofcourse I understand this but anyway 5 000 dollars have not the same value in year 2012 and 5 000 dollars have not the same value in 2023. So even if the NOK is weaker it is not true what you are writing in the article that people will have cheaper holiday in Norway because NOK is weak.
It could be truth in another universe where prices are not getting higher and higher. But even if the NOK is weak, prices of everything in Norway more than doubled in the last 10 years so you are not right with your calculations.
Because even if the NOK is weak you need more dollars because everything is more expensive in Norway.
By the way I don´t think that most tourists care about exchange rate. You have money to travel to Norway for holiday or not and it is not important if you get a bit more for dollars because that is definitely the least important thing in your budget.
So I think we dont have the same opinion but that is ok. 🙂
Do not write nonsense, a weak currency shows that the country does not have good prospects in the future and no one believes in its currency
I agree with that statement. The weak Norwegian krone is terrible news overall for Norway as a nation and as an economy.
However, most tourists are not going to be investing or earning wages in NOK, so it will not affect them in a negative way this summer. If you do think so, please let me know exactly how you think this will affect tourism in the summer of 2023 in a negative way.
Best regards
Nicklas
I was just trying to tell you that if you pay more than 1 000 NOK per night for accomodation in Norway and imagine you are travelling here with family. The holiday is extremely expensive in Norway and 99% of your expensed are for accomodation, food, renting a car, flight tickets.
So you have the money for it and you want to spend it or not. That is all.
If NOK is weaker or stronger I don´t think it makes a difference for someone who want to come to Norway because it makes really small difference in the total price what you spend in Norway.
John
Hi Nicklas,
I did a “working holiday” permit in Norway in 2014. I love the country and my dream is to buy a big piece of land there and grow strawberries someday. But if that doesn’t materialize, I would still enjoy living in Frogner, Oslo during the spring and summer months!
Since then I have kept my bank account at DNB and have felt the need to “double down” on my losses on the NOK currency because it’s down about 50% in 10 years vs. my currency! It seems the gains in your real estate mirror the losses in currency, so that as an outsider, you have experienced no appreciation in asset prices the past 10 years.
My theory for this is that the Norwegian Sovereign Wealth Fund, NBIM, holds most of its portfolio in European and North American stocks/equities along with real estate and bonds. The NBIM is so large that the capital markets of Norway cannot support the depth required to reinvest the gains (i.e. overseas stock dividends, interest, and current & future oil earnings from its domestic production) without over-valuing the companies on the Norwegian stock exchange, and cause even more inflation. The Norwegian government even stipulated NBIM may not invest more than some % into any Norwegian company.
Every Norwegian has the equivalent of $100,000 USD (or somewhere like that) the last time I checked. So that a family of 4 has ~$400,000 USD in wealth held by the state of Norway. This does not include private wealth (although I admit Norwegians like most of the western world are in record levels of debt, but they also have a lot of assets).
This money trickles back to Norway in the form of social spending and pushes up prices, but there’s more selling of NOK and buying of USD and EURO, and reinvestment of USD and EURO by the Norwegian government because of their large surpluses of oil revenue and overseas income to invest in those deepest of open markets.
I seem to recall, in fact, that the NBIM owns 1% of all equities in the world, which is quite a lot for a small country. But even that could be higher since I last checked. They also own a lot of the commercial real estate that sits empty, I bet. So, I wouldn’t be surprised if that the inevitable diversifying of their portfolio comes back to bite them once commercial real estate losses are realized.
If the Norwegian government wanted to unleash the next level of wealth upon Norwegians it could easily prevent its currency from weakening like this. It’s no exaggeration to say the NOK is collapsing! Same with SEK! All that needs to happen is the Norwegian Central Bank increases interest rates higher than other currencies. However, this would slow the Norwegian economy and seriously negatively affect their standard of living.
I don’t necessarily think it’s due to low oil prices or global uncertainty. Norway (the State) has surplus savings every year, but the savings are in USD and EURO. If NBIM were to repatriate this wealth into Norwegian Kroners and use it to buy back their currency, their currency would appreciate, inflation would fall, and interest rates would probably go up even higher than they are now (because of the lower amount of NOK circulating in the economy). Norwegians would be poorer on paper perhaps, but wealthier regarding their ability to import and consume products and services from abroad.
They question in my mind is, who made the decision to do the opposite of a strong currency strategy? That is, who decided to have a weak currency and restrain the wealth effect of Norwegians? One answer could be that Norway is victim of its own success and pursued an economic policy to do the best they could to avoid “Dutch disease”, BUT IT’S QUITE POSSIBLE THIS THEORY IS FLAWED (OR AT LEAST HAS CREATED WINNERS AND LOSERS), WHICH IS OFTEN THE CASE WHEN GOVERNMENT INTERFERES IN THE MARKET.
You may choose to look at the bright side of things and say to yourself a weak currency will be great for tourism in Norway, but broadly speaking the average Norwegian -in my opinion- is getting screwed! You’re getting robbed covertly. And what you should really be doing is spreading the word and leading a group of like-minded Norwegians to take back your currency! Because right now your currency is getting obliterated and there’s no good reason why that should be the case other than you’re having wealth siphoned off from you.
Hi, Jonathan.
I completely agree with you. I definitely agree that the weak currency is terrible for Norwegians like myself, or Norway as a country. What I tried to say in the article is that it’s great for foreign tourists who want to visit Norway, because they get to buy NOK at a bargain sale.
Best regards
Nicklas
perhaps the majority of investors are wrong about the krone. given that Norway has a huge sovereign wealth fund while the US and Europe have unsustainable debt loads, and given that oil has nowhere to go but up, I’d argue the krone is the best buy in currencies today.
Hi, Ariel.
That’s an interesting take. I certainly hope you are right 🙂
Best regards
Nicklas