Guest nights halved

Figures from the accommodation statistics show that there were approximately 860 000 guest nights at commercial accommodation establishments in November last year. Norwegian guest nights declined by 54 per cent, while foreign guest nights declined by 67 per cent. Norwegian guest nights at hotels declined by 60 per cent, and by 11 per cent at camping sites. At holiday dwellings and youth hostels guest nights increased by 16 per cent.

Restrictions to slow down the spread of the pandemic in November had increased, with a particularly focus on the number of people who could gather indoors and in groups. In addition, there were implemented quarantine hotels at entry to Norway.

- The decrease in guest nights are back to what we experienced at the beginning of the pandemic, says Kristin Aasestad, advisor at Statistics Norway.

Sharp decline at hotels

There were 680 000 guest nights at Norwegian hotels in November 2020. This was 62 per cent lower compared to November 2019. In previous months last year, there were significant regional changes to where the pandemic affected the change in guest nights, but in November, there was a decline throughout the country.

Decline at camping sites in November

Camping sites have previously during the pandemic, meaning from March 2020 and onward, been less affected than the other establishments in terms of guest nights. In November, this was not the case, and both Norwegian as well as foreign guest nights declined by 11 and 35 per cent, respectively.

Recent figures from Eurostat

Eurostat have recently made an overview of important short term indicatiors and their development during the pandemic.