Non-registered accommodation is reshaping the Nordic tourism map

Tourism development is often assessed through hotels, hostels and other registered accommodation providers. While this provides important insights, it only tells part of the story. When non-registered accommodation, essentially short-term rentals, is included, the centres of tourism shift noticeably.

Between January and June 2026, non-registered accommodation accounted for 32% of all overnight stays in Finland, 28% in Norway and 18% in Sweden. This is no longer a marginal phenomenon, but a significant part of the Nordic accommodation market.

Stockholm, Oslo, Helsinki and other major cities dominate the tourism market. However, when non-registered accommodation is included, tourism destinations such as Rovaniemi, Tromsø, Gotland, Kuusamo, Kolari, Trysil and Ringsaker stand out much more strongly than registered accommodation figures alone would suggest.

Short-Term Rentals Are a Key Part of the Market in Tourism Destinations

In Stockholm, non-registered accommodation accounted for approximately 9% of all overnight stays between January and June 2026. In Oslo, the corresponding figure was 20%, and in Helsinki, 21%. In major cities, hotels and other traditional forms of accommodation still form the backbone of the market, while short-term rentals complement existing capacity.

In tourism destinations, the picture is different.

In Finland, in Rovaniemi, Kuusamo and Kolari, non-registered accommodation accounted for nearly half of all overnight stays between January and June 2026. In Gotland, Sweden, the share was 26%, while in Berg it was just under half. In Tromsø, Norway, non-registered accommodation accounted for 43% of overnight stays, compared with 58% in Trysil and 62% in Ringsaker.

The full scale of accommodation capacity and tourism revenue is therefore not always visible in registered statistics. This is particularly evident in nature, archipelago and winter tourism destinations.

Tourism Monitoring Requires a Broader Perspective

For tourism planning, it is not enough to monitor hotel capacity and registered overnight stays alone. In tourism destinations, ski resorts and nature-based destinations, as well as during major events, short-term rentals can determine how many visitors an area can accommodate.

At the same time, this raises new questions: How do accommodation capacity, tourism tax revenues, housing and the pressure on local services evolve as an increasing share of tourism takes place outside registered accommodation businesses?

This has implications for tourism planning, capacity assessment, service provision and discussions about the local impacts of tourism. The Nordic tourism map is not shaped by hotels alone, but also by homes, cottages and networks of short-term rentals.

With Visitory, you can gain a comprehensive, area-specific view of overnight stays, accommodation revenue and the role of non-registered accommodation. Get up-to-date tourism statistics for your own use and make decisions based on the entire market, not just part of the picture.

Figures are based on Visitory data for January–June 2026.