But something that has already emerged is that the number of German guest nights in Sweden in 2023 will be more than the Norwegian ones. Tourists from Norway have traditionally always been the ones who have made the most foreign overnight stays in Sweden annually.
Statistics for the tourist year 2023 from the Swedish Agency for Economic and Regional Growth show that now, when world tourism is no longer affected by the pandemic, German tourists spent more nights in Sweden than Norwegian tourists.
This is possibly a historic shift, as Norwegian tourists have always been the foreign visitors who have spent the most nights in Sweden during pandemic-free times, says Susanne Andersson, CEO of Visit Sweden.
Andersson does not want to speculate on what is behind the shift, as the national tourism accounts for which the Swedish Agency for Economic and Regional Development is responsible have not yet been fully compiled.
It is difficult to draw relevant conclusions without insight into the development, but this may be important to know when Swedish hospitality companies are planning their upcoming marketing efforts, says Susanne.
The guest night stop
2023 2022 2019
1. Germany 1. Norway 1. Norway
2. Norway 2. Germany 2. Germany
3. Denmark 3. Denmark 3. Denmark
4. United States 4. United States 4. United States
5. Netherlands 5. Netherlands 5. United Kingdom
Source: Swedish Agency for Economic and Regional Development guest night statistics
As far back in time as the Swedish Agency for Economic and Regional Growth has statistics for pandemic-free years, the Netherlands and Great Britain have fought for fifth place in terms of the most overnight stays in Sweden. Sometimes it has been Great Britain, sometimes the Netherlands. Denmark and the USA have long been in third and fourth place respectively in terms of the most foreign guest nights. However, Swedish tourists have always been the ones who have made by far the most overnight stays in Sweden.
However, statistics on guest nights do not reveal the number of people or the number of tourists visiting Sweden. Guest night statistics show how many overnight stays have been made by people from different countries. A person can stay many nights, just as camping tourists can stay overnight in Sweden without a single guest night being registered. No one currently compiles the number of tourists (number of people) visiting Sweden.
According to the press release.
