Sunny July sets a record in guest nights

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In July 2018, a total of 6.3 million guest nights were reported at Norwegian accommodation establishments. This is the highest reported number of guest nights in Norway for the month of July.

The increase in number of guest nights was 1.2 per cent in July 2018 compared with July 2017. The increase was mainly due to an increase of nearly 60 000 guest nights in hotels, a rise of 1.9 per cent, according to the accommodation statistics.

In July, there were 2.6 million guest nights in camping sites, an increase of 1.9 per cent compared to the same month the year before. The number of guest nights for visitors from foreign countries increased in holiday dwellings by 6.2 per cent, but due to a decrease by Norwegian residents of 18 per cent, total number of guest nights at holiday dwellings declined by 7 per cent.

Figure 1. Accomodation total. Guest nights, by country of residence

July 2017 July 2018
Total 6214042 6289295
Norway 4081999 4111511
Foreign countries 2132043 2177784

Rise in revenue per available room

The average price for hotel rooms in Norway increased by 3.7 compared to July in 2017. Following the increase in both guest nights and average price, the total sales for guest nights increased by 4.7 per cent. The revenue per available room (RevPAR) increased by 2.5 per cent to NOK 612. This is the highest figure registered since the start of the accommodation statistics. Measured in RevPAR, Oslo, Hedmark and Vest-Agder were the counties that experienced the highest percentage increase, while Trøndelag and Finnmark saw the largest decline.

Figure 2. Revenue per avaliable room in July

1992 1993 1994 1995 1996 1997 1998 1999 2000 2001 2002 2003 2004 2005 2006 2007 2008 2009 2010 2011 2012 2013 2014 2015 2016 2017 2018
RevPar in NOK 292 311 322 319 331 339 366 377 381 383 374 359 389 390 422 462 475 448 436 452 456 438 464 519 560 597 612

Increased share of guest nights at camping sites

In July 2018, the share of total guest nights at camping sites was 42 per cent of the total guest nights in Norway, which is an increase from last year. In addition, the share for camping sites saw a strong increase from this year’s June, which indicates that camping sites are a popular means of accommodation for the holiday month of July.

The increase in guest nights at camping sites is due to an increase in guest nights in campers. Guest nights in campers increased by 18 per cent, where the counties Buskerud and Trøndelag saw the sharpest increase by 90 and 65 per cent. This is a reflection of the fact that the number of registered campers has doubled over the last 10 years.  

Figure 3 . Share of total guest nights by establishment in July 2018

Prosent
Hotels 50 % 50
Camping sites 42 % 42
Holiday dwellings 7 % 7
Hostelling International 1 % 1