No hotel boom during Royal Wedding
There was no rush of tourists to Stockholm’s hotels during last weekend’s Royal Wedding, with occupancy rates roughly similar to any other June weekend, according to Stockholm Visitors Board.
The wedding brought 500,000 people out onto the streets of Stockholm - more than double the number who marked the wedding of King Carl XVI Gustaf and Queen Silvia in 1976.
Despite this, a survey of Stockholm hotels by Stockholm Visitors Board has revealed that the hoped-for boom for the hospitality sector did not materialize:
“Some hotels think it was too overblown. They thought that lots of people would come, but it just turned out like a normal June weekend,” said Peter Lidqvist, CEO of Stockholm Visitors Board.
At the Elite Hotels chain, three out of ten rooms were empty.
“We never really believed that it would have an enormous impact, so we’re still pleased. Compared with the same weekend last year we had one hundred percent higher occupancy,” said Eva-Karin Dahl, deputy chief executive.
Hotels raised their prices dramatically after the date was set for the wedding. A large number of rooms were booked at the time, many by tour operators, but many of these were cancelled in the run-up to the wedding.
“When the rumour spreads that a city is fully booked, prices increase. The people who came to the wedding were private individuals, often families, who thought it was a bit pricey and so tried to find friends to stay with instead,” said Lindqvist.
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The wedding brought 500,000 people out onto the streets of Stockholm - more than double the number who marked the wedding of King Carl XVI Gustaf and Queen Silvia in 1976.
Despite this, a survey of Stockholm hotels by Stockholm Visitors Board has revealed that the hoped-for boom for the hospitality sector did not materialize:
“Some hotels think it was too overblown. They thought that lots of people would come, but it just turned out like a normal June weekend,” said Peter Lidqvist, CEO of Stockholm Visitors Board.
At the Elite Hotels chain, three out of ten rooms were empty.
“We never really believed that it would have an enormous impact, so we’re still pleased. Compared with the same weekend last year we had one hundred percent higher occupancy,” said Eva-Karin Dahl, deputy chief executive.
Hotels raised their prices dramatically after the date was set for the wedding. A large number of rooms were booked at the time, many by tour operators, but many of these were cancelled in the run-up to the wedding.
“When the rumour spreads that a city is fully booked, prices increase. The people who came to the wedding were private individuals, often families, who thought it was a bit pricey and so tried to find friends to stay with instead,” said Lindqvist.
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