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Åland considers setting clocks to Swedish time

A member of Åland’s parliament has proposed that the islands, technically an autonomous part of Finland, adopt the same time zone as Sweden.

Published: 22 April 2008 15:08 CEST
Åland considers setting clocks to Swedish time

Like Finland, the islands currently set their clocks according to eastern European time (GMT +2).

But last week independent member of parliament Danne Sundman put forward a legislative proposal that the islands, located roughly midway between mainland Sweden and Finland in the middle of the Baltic Sea, should abandon Finnish time for the central European time zone used by Sweden (GMT +1).

“There are several reasons why it makes sense for Åland to be on Swedish time,” Sundman told The Local.

Besides Åland’s geographic proximity to parts of Europe using central European time, Sundman also pointed out that Åland’s primarily Swedish speaking population follow television broadcasts from Sweden.

“Being on Finnish time means that everything on TV here runs an hour later. It may not sound like a big deal, but there are a lot of people who complain about television times being too late,” he said.

Equally important, according to Sundman, is the need for Åland to better cater to the needs of Swedish ferry boat tourists, which are an important part of the islands’ economy.

“It can be hard for them to keep track of whether they are one hour ahead or one hour behind,” he said.

“Things can get rather confusing for them if they are only coming here on a day trip.”

Sundman is not the first person to propose the idea of adopting Swedish time, but his legislative motion has gotten Åland’s residents to seriously consider the question.

And support for the change appears to be growing.

A poll on the website of the Ålandstidningen newspaper shows a majority of respondents favour the change.

“More and more people are thinking like me,” said Sundman.

Critics of the switch from Finnish time to Swedish time fear that the move would create a barrier with Finland, and that it would result in the sun setting even earlier.

To those worried about dark afternoons, Sundman responds that the time would be made up by sunnier mornings.

As to the relationship between Åland and Finland, Sundman is frank.

“Mentally, I think we are closer to Sweden,” he said.

However, Sundman was careful not to overplay the significance of the time zone switch as an embrace of Sweden at the expense the islands’ ties with Finland.

“Of course the change would have some symbolic significance, but it’s more for practical reasons than anything else,” he said.

If Sundman’s proposal is approved by Åland’s parliament, Åland residents must then petition authorities in Finland, who would represent Åland’s case internationally.

If all goes well, according to Sundman, in about a year’s time Swedes disembarking from ferry boats in Åland’s harbours would be able to forget about resetting their watches.

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TRAVEL NEWS

Why are fewer British tourists visiting Spain this year?

Almost 800,000 fewer UK holidaymakers have visited Spain in 2023 when compared to 2019. What’s behind this big drop?

Published: 23 August 2023 11:36 CEST
Updated: 26 August 2023 18:32 CEST
Why are fewer British tourists visiting Spain this year?

Spain welcomed 12.2 million UK tourists between January and July 2023, 6 percent less when compared to the same period in 2019, according to data released on Monday by Spanish tourism association Turespaña.

This represents a decrease of 793,260 British holidaymakers for Spain so far this year.

Conversely, the number of Italian (+8 percent), Irish (+15.3 percent), Portuguese (+24.8 percent), Dutch (+4 percent) and French tourists (+5 percent) visiting España in 2023 are all above the rates in 2019, the last pre-pandemic year. 

German holidaymakers are together with their British counterparts the two main nationalities showing less interest in coming to Spanish shores.

Britons still represent the biggest tourist group that comes to Spain, but it’s undergoing a slump, with another recent study by Caixabank Research suggesting numbers fell particularly in June 2023 (-12.5 percent of the usual rate). 

READ ALSO: Spain fully booked for summer despite most expensive holiday prices ever

So are some Britons falling out of love with Spain? Are there clear reasons why a holiday on the Spanish coast is on fewer British holiday itineraries?

According to Caixabank Research’s report, the main reasons are “the poor macroeconomic performance of the United Kingdom, the sharp rise in rates and the weakness of the pound”.

This is evidenced in the results of a survey by British market research company Savanta, which found that one in six Britons are not going on a summer holiday this year due to the UK’s cost-of-living crisis.

Practically everything, everywhere has become more expensive, and that includes holidays in Spain: hotel stays are up 44 percent, eating out is 13 percent pricier, and flights are 40 percent more on average. 

READ ALSO: How much more expensive is it to holiday in Spain this summer?

Caixabank stressed that another reason for the drop in British holidaymakers heading to Spain is that those who can afford a holiday abroad are choosing “more competitive markets” such as Turkey, Greece and Portugal. 

And there’s no doubt that the insufferably hot summer that Spain is having, with four heatwaves so far, has also dissuaded many holidaymakers from Blighty from overcooking in the Spanish sun. 

With headlines such as “This area of Spain could become too hot for tourists” or “tourists say it’s too hot to see any sights” featuring in the UK press, budding British holidaymakers are all too aware of the suffocating weather conditions Spain and other Mediterranean countries are enduring. 

Other UK outlets have urged travellers to try out the cooler Spanish north rather than the usual piping hot Costa Blanca and Costa del Sol destinations.

Another UK poll by InsureandGo found that 71 percent of the 2,000+ British respondents thought that parts of Europe such as Spain, Greece and Turkey will be too hot to visit over summer by 2027.

There’s further concern that the introduction in 2024 of the new (and delayed) ETIAS visa for non-EU visitors, which of course now also applies to UK nationals, could further compel British tourists to choose countries to holiday in rather than Spain.

READ MORE: Will British tourists need to pay for a visa waiver to enter Spain?

However, a drop in the number of British holidaymakers may not be all that bad for Spain, even though they did spend over €17 billion on their Spanish vacations in 2022. 

Towns, cities and islands across the country have been grappling with the problem of overtourism and the consequences it has on everything from quality of life for locals to rent prices. 

READ ALSO: ‘Beach closed’ – Fake signs put up in Spain’s Mallorca to dissuade tourists

The overcrowded nature of Spain’s beaches and most beautiful holiday hotspots appears to be one of the reasons why Germans are visiting Spain in far fewer numbers. A recent report in the country’s most read magazine Stern asked “if the dream is over” in their beloved Mallorca.

Spanish authorities are also seeking to overhaul the cheaper holiday package-driven model that dominates many resorts, which includes moving away from the boozy antics of young British and other European revellers.

Fewer tourists who spend more are what Spain is theoretically now looking for, and the rise in American, Japanese and European tourists other than Brits signify less of a dependence on the British market, one which tends to maintain the country’s tourism status quo for better or for worse.

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