Cautious optimism in a severely tested tourism industry
2022 was the first year close to a normal operating year after the corona pandemic hit Norway. It was badly needed for the industry that was hit hardest by the corona restrictions.
"When borders close and people have to stay at home, it goes without saying that tourism is severely affected. There were strict restrictions on serving and a stated aim to reduce mobility. Travel lives on mobility. It was very tough", says tourism director Aase Marthe Horrigmo in Innovation Norway.
Had to adjust quickly
The crisis forced everyone to think outside the box. During the pandemic, Innovation Norway had the operational responsibility for several crisis packages, and during 2020 and 2021 allocated more than NOK 1.65 billion to tourism through various schemes. The largest of these - the restructuring scheme - was supposed to stimulate new thinking into an uncertain future.
Many tourism companies have used the time well. For example, the industry now has more "miljøfyrtårn" (Norwegian environmental certification scheme) than before, and more destinations have been labeled through IN's labeling scheme for sustainable destinations.
"More and more people are concerned with sustainability when they choose where to go on holiday. There will be great competition for customers among sustainable travel destinations, and we in Norway are at the forefront when it comes to thinking systematically about sustainability, both economically, socially and environmentally", says Horrigmo.
The Asians are not back in numbers
Innovation Norway has also contributed to "restarting" the tourism industry, through, among other things, marketing, B2B and development work. Many Norwegians have discovered Norway as their own holiday country during the pandemic, and in 2022 several of the foreign tourists returned - although the number is not quite up to the 2019 level.
Asian tourists are waiting, while other markets have returned in full force. Germany is our largest tourism market and increased in 2022 by ten percent compared to before the pandemic. The Netherlands has had fantastic growth and is now our second largest market.
At the same time, there are more people struggling with the ripple effects of the workforce that disappeared during the pandemic.
"The constant openings and closures led to an unpredictability that was difficult when you have to have income for your family. We see that more people have found jobs in other industries and this has led to a great demand for competent labour", says Horrigmo.
To help with the situation, IN offers a course portfolio and, together with the tourism industry, a national tourism strategy has been developed, where skills development is one of the goals. The strategy will enable the tourism industry to meet tomorrow's tourism. Much is still uncertain.
"They waited for things to go back to normal, but in 2022 "the new normal" arrived. Russia invaded Ukraine and Russian tourists disappeared overnight, while a no-fly zone was introduced over the world's largest country. Energy prices skyrocketed and this hit our industry hard. On the other hand, the Norwegian krone is relatively weak and this makes Norway cheaper as a holiday destination. It remains to be seen how all this will play out in the long term, but we can already see that the krone exchange rate has an impact on bookings to Norway."
Quantity is no longer the most important thing
While in the past people were concerned with volume in the tourism industry, the national tourism strategy has given high priority to willingness to pay, while at the same time it is crucial that we contribute to reducing climate emissions in tourism.
"We must use the marketing efforts to attract the right visitors. We have a goal of increasing profitability and doing so in a way that produces good, local ripple effects. Destination development is also driving local development. We all work a little differently after the pandemic, and we cooperate well with the industry to find the best solutions for the Norwegian tourism industry going forward", says Horrigmo.