Erling Haaland drives surge in Norway tourism searches, up to 300% increase

During the FIFA World Cup, interest in Norway as a travel destination skyrocketed. Google Trends recorded a global rise of up to 300% in searches for the term “Norway”, with Poland showing a 200% year‑on‑year increase. Flight query data from Kiwi.com indicated a 32.3% higher daily average of Polish‑to‑Norway flight searches between 1‑20 July compared with the previous year, while Airbnb reported a 15% rise in accommodation searches for Norway between 11 June and 12 July.

The phenomenon is linked to Norway’s striker Erling Haaland, who gained 31.9 million new Instagram followers during the tournament, becoming the fourth‑most‑followed active footballer worldwide. Analysts attribute the tourism boost to Haaland’s informal behind‑the‑scenes videos and humorous social‑media presence, which amplified the national team’s visibility and attracted millions of online users to consider Norway as a travel destination.