Northern Ireland holidaymakers are increasingly trading traditional Mediterranean breaks for cooler Scandinavian destinations as searing summer temperatures become commonplace.

Sandra Corkin of Oasis Travel told The Irish News that the agency has seen a steady rise in customers opting for Norway and other Nordic countries over the likes of Spain and Italy in recent years.

“For the last couple of years we have seen increases in the amount of people heading maybe to Norway and Scandinavian countries,” she said.

“Sometimes people say, look, I don’t want to be roasted and we’ll want to enjoy a holiday where maybe the temperatures are more 20 than 40.”

Her comments come after a punishing heatwave swept across Western Europe in recent days.

Ms Corkin said that while the shift is not yet a mass exodus, it is becoming a steady year-on-year trend as temperatures rise.

“There’s not an exodus from Spain, but certainly we’re seeing an increase every year for the past couple of years for people heading to cooler European destinations,” she said.

However, she said most holidaymakers who do choose to brave the likes of Spain and Greece now travel prepared for extreme heat.

“When people are heading to Greece and Spain in the summer months, they’re nearly expecting temperatures are going to be in the mid-30s. So they are prepared and also they’re on beaches or they’re in air-conditioned places, in countries that are well geared up for the heat,” she said.

On the cost of jetting off this summer, Ms Corkin said airlines are offering reasonable prices despite earlier fears that the conflict in the Middle East would send the cost of flying abroad through the roof.

“We haven’t seen fuel surcharges in any flights yet,” she said, adding that seat sales from some carriers have helped keep fares stable.

Ms Corkin said that people have now begun to travel abroad again as tensions have eased between the US and Iran.

“We did have a period of a couple of months with uncertainty where business had slowed down but since the beginning of June we are reporting a huge increase in business,” she said.

“As things have settled down in the Middle East, this has given people the confidence to travel and make plans, and certainly, thank goodness, that’s what we’re seeing at the minute, business is very good.”