2 minute read
Tourism in numbers 2022
In collaboration with Visit Faroe Islands (VFI), Statistics Faroe Islands collects accommodation statistics, as well as other key figures that show the significance of the tourism industry for the national economy and the number of jobs. In addition, visitor surveys are conducted in collaboration with Gallup.
Accommodations
In 2022, a total of 228,757 stays were recorded at the hotels in the Faroe Islands, compared to 173,913 stays in 2021, which was a COVID-19 year. For comparison, there were 166,452 stays in 2019, before the accommodation capacity was doubled in 2020.
The year 2022 was also marked by COVID-19 until the month of April, when travel restrictions were lifted, and foreign tourists once again visited the Faroe Islands. The COVID-19 years have brought about a major change in the proportion of stays. This is also evident in 2022, where the domestic market still accounted for a larger share of stays than before COVID-19. In 2022, 39% of foreign stays were purchased by Danes, compared to 60% in 2021 and 35% in 2019, before COVID-19.
Faroese residents accounted for 49,399 accommodations in 2022, equivalent to 22% of the total accommodations. This can be compared to 57,454 (33%) in 2021, 33,496 (35%) in 2020, and 30,628 (18%) in 2019.
small groups on leisure trips, but the number of business trips has been steadily increasing in recent years. However, the coronavirus has also had a negative impact on the number of business trips.
Most markets experienced growth in 2022 compared to 2021, which was a year marked by the coronavirus pandemic. The only market that declined was the domestic market.
89% of all accommodations were in the Suðurstreymoy. Most tourists come to the Faroe Islands as individuals or in
A major and new change in the accommodation statistics that Statistics Faroe islands has been collecting is that they from 2021 only include data from hotels and guesthouses and not other types of accommodation such as holiday homes and camping. This is because it has been difficult to collect data from other types of accommodations and to ensure the quality of the data. This naturally
Approximately 100,000 tourists visited the Faroe Islands in 2022. Of those, 70,000 arrived by air and 30,000 arrived by sea.
Accommodation Days 2022
Organised
Arrivals/Check-ins 2022
Accommodation Days 2022
Total leads to a lower overall figure than before and gives a worse picture of how many tourists actually stay around the country, given that most of the larger hotels are in Tórshavn while most of the holiday homes are located in and around the villages.
The statistics also do not include data from Airbnb and similar booking systems. This is because the American company does not publish its statistics. This is unfortunate for the tourism statistics, especially since all indications are that this is one of the fastest growing forms of accommodation in recent years. The total number of accommodations is therefore larger than previously mentioned. More than 400 Faroese users have rented out their homes on Airbnb in recent years. The EU is working on forcing Airbnb to release its statistics, and we are following the developments.
The overall occupancy rate for hotels in the country was 51% in 2022. This can be compared to 42% in 2021, 31% in 2020, and 59% in 2019 before the pandemic. It should be noted that the hotel capacity has doubled during this period. The occupancy rate in Suðurstreymoy increased from 49% in 2013 to 67% in 2019, and down to 35% in 2020, 45% in 2021, and 53% in 2022.
Cruise Ships
The number of cruise ships increased significantly in 2022, compared to the pandemic years of 2021 and 2020. In 2022, 43 ships with 15,663 guests visited, compared to only 1 ship with 49 guests in 2021. In 2019, the year before the pandemic, 51 ships with 35,524 guests visited.
