More Norwegian than foreign guest nights

The latest figures from the accommodation statistics show that there were 35.2 million guest nights at commercial accommodation establishments in Norway last year, an increase of over a million. Norwegian and foreign guest nights rose by 780 000 and 560 000, respectively. The increase was mainly due to an increase in guest nights at hotels, but camping sites also registered an increase. Preliminary figures from Eurostat estimate an increase in guest nights in the EU countries by 2.4 per cent from 2018 to 2019.

Figures from countries within the EU from January to November 2019 show that half of the guest nights in Europe are spent by each country, national citizen. It is worth noting that there, unsurprisingly, are major differences within the EU. Sweden and Finland are similar to Norway. In Iceland, nine out of ten guest nights were spent by foreigners, and at typical tourist destinations such as Croatia and Greece, a large majority of guest nights were spent by foreigners.

Regional differences

Oslo had the highest number of both national and foreign guest nights in 2019. Trøndelag was the county with the second-highest number of Norwegian guest nights, while Hordaland had the second-highest number of foreign ones. Sogn og Fjordane was the only county with more foreign than national guest nights, while the counties Svalbard, Hordaland, and Troms, had a high share of foreign guest nights.

Source: Statistics Norway.

More guest nights at camping sites

Camping sites registered 1.4 per cent more guest nights in 2019, compared to the previous year. Guest nights in campers and huts increased by 8.7 and 7.2 per cent, while guest nights in tents and caravans declined.

• 7.5 million guest nights in 2019
• Norwegian guest nights declined slightly
• Foreign guest nights increased by 7.5 per cent

Fewer guest nights at holiday dwellings

• 2.3 million guest nights in 2019
• 1.8 per cent decline since 2018
• Norwegian guest nights declined 4.2 per cent
• Foreign guest nights was unchanged

More foreign guest nights in Svalbard

• 166 000 guest nights in 2019
• 7 per cent increase since 2018
• Norwegian guest nights increased by 1 per cent
• Foreign guest nights increased by 15 per cent

11 per cent more guest nights in December

In December 2019, there were slightly above 1.6 million guest nights in total. Both Norwegian and foreign guest nights increased, by 9 and 16 per cent, respectively.