At Berg-Hansen travel agency, they are called down by customers. After the corona, many want to meet again at Christmas dinners or seminars.
But now there are almost no vacant premises left.
– Now it’s completely crazy. It has exploded. We have gone from waiting and waiting for customers to come back again, to the fact that it has simply exploded, says event manager Anna Andresen in Berg-Hansen.
– Six or seven weeks ago, we saw that got a peak in bookings we had not seen since 2019, at the highest, and after that it has been like that.
More or less fully booked
At Støtvig hotel on Larkollen, they are well aware of the great progress.
– The orders have gone straight up. So now it is completely blown out of capacity for the rest of the year, says hotel director Nina Nilsen.
There are a few Sundays left that are free and some day stays, but now it has also started to move over to 2022.
– Hotel manager Nina Nilsen at Støtvig hotel has never experienced greater demand. Photo: Goran Jorganovich / TV 2
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– It’s really completely hopeless. Customers can call today and say they have a group of 60 and we will arrive in two weeks, but they do not have a chance. Now they have to plan for two to three months’ time, or even one year in advance, if they are to arrange a Christmas table, says Nina Nilsen.
Anna Andresen at Berg-Hansen confirms that it is starting to get completely full.
– Throughout the year it is more or less fully booked and sold out, and the same applies to January and February already, and even the Christmas table season in 2022 is quite full, she says.
– And it’s the same if it’s a big city, if it’s close to airports, if it’s smaller places. Everyone experiences exactly the same thing, because there is a huge influx of people who will finally meet again, says the event manager.
The foreigners are still absent
At NHO, they are a little less euphoric, because occupancy in hotels is still lower than normal.
– The good news is that the small conferences, for small and medium-sized companies, are going quite well, says CEO Kristin Krohn Devold in NHO tourism.
– But the bad news is that the largest groups and international conferences are not underway. So the hotel beds are not full.
And foreigners are still absent.
– Just to illustrate, one in three beds tends to be filled with foreigners. And they are not here. This does not mean that it is a third below normal, because Norwegians are a little better than they usually are, but it is a long time before we reach our goal, says the NHO Reiseliv manager.
Gets a surprise
But at Støtvig hotel, the good times after the corona are definitely back.
– We have never had such good forecasts for a year as we have in 2022, says hotel director Nina Nilsen.
– So those who thought that the digital world at home and at work should take over for this course and conference market that we are so dependent on, they have been completely wrong. For now we want to meet friends and colleagues, she says.
Many customers get a surprise when they try to arrange a meeting.
– There are some who say “What, is it full? But we will arrange this in a few weeks “, says Anna Andresen at Berg-Hansen.
– And we try to make it happen, but it has happened that we have had to contact between fifteen and twenty places before we find a free date.
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