Norwegian municipalities are now sending their elderly to Spain, Croatia, the Canaries and Turkey, says Nina Torp Høisæter at Norlandia Omsorg, the biggest Norwegian private care operator.

She says that the wealthy municipality of Baerun, to the west of Oslo, has its own 60 bed care home near Alicante, and Oslo has voted the money to build its own home in the neighbourhood.

Stavanger is also sending elderly people to Spain.

Meanwhile, a new company, Scandinavian Life Center, owned by Alpar Invest, plans to send 20,000 Norwegians to Turkey within two years. The first 200 have already been dispatched.

Torp Høisæter says almost all the trips are paid for by Norwegian municipalities, who have figured out that it is no more expensive to send the elderly in search of southern sun than to keep them in Norway for the winter.

Most fly out for 4 or 8 weeks, and are usually rehabilitating.