New figures from the accommodation statistics show that there were about 1.6 millions domestic and 695 000 foreign Notice the difference between “guest nights” and “guest”. One guest may have several guest nights. at hotels, camping sites, holiday dwellings and youth hostels in February this year. An increase of respectively 1.5 and 21 precent from last February.
Foreign guest nights increased for all types of The numbers refer to hotels, short-term holiday dwellings, camping sites, and youth hostels.. Foreigners at hotels contribute most to the overall increase. There were most foreign guest nights from Denmark, Sweden and Great Britain.
– It was winter holiday in both Norway, Denmark and Sweden in February. Oslo and Innlandet were particularly popular counties for the foreign guests, says senior advisor Kristin Aasestad in Statistics Norway.
Regional differences for hotels
During February there were just over 1.8 millions guest nights at Norwegian hotels, an increase of 124 000 compared to last February. Both foreign and Norwegian guest nights contributed to the increase.
There were 497 000 foreign guest nights at hotels, which is the highest number measured for foreigners in February.
About all counties had more guest nights at hotels compared to last February. The increase was greatest in Vestland with 22 000 more guest nights. There were 20 000 and 19 000 more guest nights in Akershus and Nordland respectively.
3 out of 10 guest nights at hotels were in Oslo and Vestland. These two counties had a total of 576 000 guest nights at hotels.
In accordance with definitions from Eurostat, refugees should be excluded from tourism statistics and not be considered as guests in the context of tourism statistics when they stay at a tourist accommodation establishment. Refugees from Ukraine cannot be assigned by purpose as holiday, occupation or course, conference. It was not possible to extract all refugees guest nights and some stays are included in the statistics. For accommodation establishments that have more than 25 guest nights from Ukraine during the month, the guest nights have been removed from the statistic. Establishments that are exclusively hosting refugees are not included in the statistics.
In January 2024 three existing counties became seven new ones, and now there are 15 counties in Norway. The statistical publication from January 2024 and onward will use the new counties, which were valid from 2024. At the same time, Statistics Norway will cease the publication of "Guest nights so far this year" and the total guest night figures at the municipal level. Due to the changes new tables have been created. Historical data back to 2016 are republished to conform to the new counties. At the same time, Statistics Norway has published new tables with annual figures.