The number of booked overnight stays at Faroese hotels during February 2021 amounted to 7,400 according, a significant increase on the previous year.
According to Statistics Faroe Islands, the number of overnight stays in February exceeded the corresponding figure for 2020 by as much as about 900 — and that was before Covid arrived in the Faroe Islands.
With an added increase in hotel capacity factoring in as well, February 2021 had the most booked overnight hotel stays of any February so far.
The number of booked overnight stays refers to how many and how long a person has stayed at a hotel.
Unsurprisingly, the overwhelming majority of the stays were booked at hotels in the capital area of Tórshavn — 7,200 to be exact, with the remaining 220 booked in hotels elsewhere on the islands.
When looking at the origin of these hotel guests, it becomes clear that the increase in overnight stays in February was largely due to Faroe Islanders checking in at hotels in Tórshavn.
The two new hotels in Tórshavn — Hilton Garden Inn Faroe Islands and Hotel Brandan, respectively — have run advertising campaigns to attract new domestic customers a time where the number of foreign tourists has been very much on the lower end.
Compared to February last year, February 2021 saw 39 percent less Danish hotel guests, and the number of tourists from other foreign countries was down to a half. At the same time, the number of overnight hotel stays booked by locals went up two-fold.
