Covid outbreak hit the accommodation establishments hard

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The number of guest nights was more than halved in March this year compared to March 2019.

Norwegian authorities introduced measures to prevent the spread of the corona virus on March 12. At the same time, the global travel restrictions introduced had significant consequences for commercial accommodation establishments in Norway. Figures from the Accommodation statistics show there were approximately one million guest nights in March, a decrease of 1.2 million compared to March 2019.

In a fifteen-year perspective, there have never been fewer registered guest nights. During the financial crisis in 2008 and 2009, one could see somewhat fewer guest nights, but not in the proximity of the downturn that is now under the corona pandemic

Figure 1. Guest nights by nationality, March.

2006 2007 2008 2009 2010 2011 2012 2013 2014 2015 2016 2017 2018 2019 2020
Norwegian 1377353 1473619 1437275 1410003 1504062 1502592 1544745 1644532 1557472 1626716 1628712 1643349 1719259 1688783 741153
Foreign 449066 511958 500911 423721 461346 447967 455499 433772 470378 492011 571906 526924 560324 571081 282066

The number of guest nights declined in all counties. The greatest decline was in Oslo and on Svalbard; the number of guest nights was reduced by 65 and 64 per cent respectively. Vestfold and Telemark had the least reduction with 42 per cent fewer guest nights.

The largest decline at hotels in Oslo

There was a 57 percent decrease in guest nights at hotels in March compared with the previous year. Especially guest nights associated with holiday or recreation declined. The greatest decline was seen in Oslo and Viken.  

Camping sites, holiday dwellings, and youth hostels also had significantly fewer guest nights. Holiday dwellings and youth hostels decreased by 44 per cent and camping sites decreased 41 per cent.