Figures from the accommodation statistics show that there were approximately 2.6 million Notice the difference between “guest nights” and “guest”. One guest may have several guest nights. at Norwegian The numbers refer to hotels, short-term holiday dwellings, camping sites, and youth hostels. in September 2021, 800 000 more than in September last year. Foreign guest nights more than doubled, while Norwegian guest nights increased by 34 per cent.

This was however still lower than September 2019, which had 2.8 million guest nights in total.

For hotels, guest nights with course and conference as a purpose increased by 120 per cent compared to September last year. Guest nights for occupational purposes increased by 42 per cent.

September is traditionally a month with a high number of guests travelling for conferences. Restrictions to curb the spread of the pandemic were lighter this year and hotels could accommodate more guests compared to the same period last year.

Figure 1. Hotel guest nights by purpose of the accommodation, September 2019, 2020 og 2021

Source: Accommodation, Statistics Norway.

Strong increase at hotels

There were over 1.8 million guest nights at hotels in total in September 2021. This was a 46 per cent increase from September last year, but still 350 000 fewer guest nights than in September 2019.

Foreign guest nights at hotels more than doubled compared to September 2020, but Norwegian guest nights still accounted for almost 90 per cent.

Guest nights at hotels increased across all counties.

Increase at camping sites and holiday dwellings

The number of guest nights at camping sites and All types of establishments with a rental unit (apartments, huts, etc.) with self-catering and limited service. Stays are short-term. and youth hostels also increased. There were 503 000 guest nights at camping sites and 298 000 guest nights at holiday dwellings and youth hostels in September this year.

Compared to September 2020, the increase was by 33 per cent and 55 per cent respectively.

The Government lifted travel restrictions for the EEA/Schengen countries on 25th September 2021. Restrictions were also lifted for other countries with lighter restrictions. For more information, see the governments’ webpage.

In accordance with Eurostat, quarantine hotels are not included in the accommodation statistics even when there is economic activity at the hotel. Quarantine guest nights cannot be assigned by purpose as holiday, occupation or course, conference. It was not possible to extract all quarantine guest nights and some stays at quarantine hotels are included in the statistics for September. Hotels that are exclusively quarantine hotels are not included in the statistics