Swedish hotels' accommodation revenues in July are back at a comparable level to July 2019 - assuming Stockholm County is excluded.
In Stockholm County, hotel occupancy rates and revenues are below normal levels, although there has been a clear improvement compared to last year.
– Vaccination, eased restrictions and a thaw in the event industry have allowed the hotel industry to take a big step in the right direction. Stockholm has a deeper hole to climb out of and is dependent on tourism from abroad starting up and the event industry, which is so important to the city, being normalized, but things are going in the right direction, says Stefan Westerberg, chief economist at the Stockholm Chamber of Commerce.
Brand new booking statistics produced by the Stockholm Chamber of Commerce via the Benchmarking Alliance show that occupancy in July 2021 for Swedish hotels reached 59 percent. This should be compared to a low of 41 percent in July 2020.
Despite the improvement, it is still a bit below the month of July before the pandemic, when 74 percent of rooms were rented.
In Stockholm County, the occupancy rate was 43 percent in July 2021.
The corresponding figure was 68 percent in 2019 and only 22 percent in July 2020.
Overall, this means that 15 percent fewer hotel rooms in Sweden and 25 percent fewer hotel rooms in Stockholm were rented this July compared to the situation in 2019.
– Although the industry as a whole is not back to normal levels, it is a fairly significant improvement compared to last year and the best monthly reading since March 2020. The situation has brightened, although it is of course still fragile and uncertain because no one knows for sure what future developments will look like, says Stefan Westerberg.
For both Sweden and Stockholm County, the average prices per rented room have improved. The average price in Sweden during July 2021 was SEK 1,024, which is marginally higher than the prices in 2019.
In Stockholm County, this year's July prices are still clearly below the 2019 level, but have strengthened compared to last year.
This means that overall, accommodation revenue for all Swedish hotels in July is estimated at SEK 1,655 million. This should be compared with SEK 1,917 million in July 2019 and SEK 1,009 million in July 2020.
Stockholm County accounts for 355 million of the accommodation revenue this July, which is a clear improvement compared to 155 million in July 2020. At the same time, it is clearly below, minus 41 percent, the level of 605 million that existed during the same month in 2019.
This means that the revenue for Swedish hotels located outside Stockholm County is written at SEK 1,300 million. This is only SEK 11 million below the listing for July 2019.
– It's a surprisingly good number and a huge boost compared to last year, but it's still just a single month. The hotel industry is coming out of an economic ice age where many have been in big losses for a long time and will need stable, normal numbers for a long time to catch up financially, says Stefan Westerberg.
– It is still too early to start phasing out government subsidies. Airport hotels, conference hotels and some city hotels still have some way to go and this is reflected in Stockholm's somewhat weaker figures. When air travel gets going properly and the events industry, which is the city's magnet for overnight stays, picks up speed, it will also have an impact on hotels, says Stefan Westerberg.
