In 2022, the Faroese tourism industry started to recover after two years of the coronavirus pandemic

The turnover amounted to exactly DKK 900 million in 2022, compared to DKK 582 million in 2021. The turnover in 2019, before the pandemic, was DKK 784 million, making 2022 a record year. However, it should be noted that the largest part of the turnover growth in 2022 is due to increased inflation, where particularly higher oil prices have caused travel ticket prices to increase. Thus, the turnover growth in 2022 does not necessarily reflect well on the bottom line of the companies, which as a whole have had some challenging years, first in relation to the pandemic and then due to high inflation and interest rate hikes. Therefore, it will be of great importance for the economic viability of the Faroese tourism industry that 2023 becomes a good tourism year.

The increased expenditure can also be seen in the gross value added for tourism in the Faroe Islands, which amounted to DKK 347 million in 2022, compared to DKK 421 million in 2019.

The overarching goal that has been worked towards since 2012, that the Faroese tourism industry should reach DKK 1 billion in turnover, is still in sight. As is well-known, the pandemic slowed down the progress, but the hope is to reach DKK 1 billion in 2023, unless other unforeseen challenges arise.

The number of hotel accommodations increased from 173,913 in 2021 to 228,757 in 2022, despite the fact that the Faroe Islands only reopened in April after the pandemic. In comparison, there were 166,452 accommodations in 2019. Since the hotel capacity doubled in 2020, there is still some way to go to reach the same occupancy rate as before 2020. The occupancy rate in 2022 was 51% for the entire country compared to 53% in 2019, while the occupancy rate for Suðurstreymoy was 53% in 2022 compared to 67% in 2019.

Around 100,000 foreign tourists visited the Faroe Islands in 2022, compared to around 140,000 in 2019. Of those, around 70,000 arrived by air and 30,000 arrived by sea.

Many marketing initiatives were carried out in 2022, both in leisure tourism as well as in business tourism. Exhibitions, workshops, and other sales events were held in various markets, such as the Visit workshop, which was held in Løkshøll in April, where 50 foreign travel agents visited the Faroe Islands.

visited, including 36 Instagrammers. We also produced our own content and collaborated with more Faroese influencers more than usual. A new version of our website, www. visitfaroeislands.com, was also launched, which we worked extensively on over the past year.

Furthermore, we conducted a promotional campaign in collaboration with the National Art Museum of the Faroe Islands called /Imagine Faroe Islands, in connection with the launch of the new AI technology Midjourney. We asked the AI machine how famous artists who never had the opportunity to visit the Faroe Islands would have painted our islands. The museum thus hosted the first exhibition in the world of a national collection consisting solely of AI-generated images. At the same time, visitors to the museum had the opportunity to create their own pictures, and an Instagram campaign was launched where everyone could request their own image from the Faroe Islands. The campaign resulted in good PR in international media.

In 2022, development work in the Faroe Islands has continued to have a high priority. The website Bygdagøtur.fo was further developed and is now fully completed. The event "Closed for Maintenance" was held again in April, at 11 locations, and was once again successful. We entered into a collaboration with the National Agricultural Fund to establish a partnership for six months aimed at improving the integration of agriculture and tourism. Exciting pilot projects in transportation were also launched in Tjørnuvík and Kalsoy. Training courses in sustainable food preparation were also held for the industry.

2022. In just a few years, we have gone from being on par with Eastern Europe, further to Western Europe, and now to a Nordic position, albeit still at the lower end. We will continue to work on this going forward.

The development of sustainable tourism will also be one of the main priorities in the 2030 strategy, which we finally could start in the autumn of 2022, two years delayed due to COVID-19. The work is expected to be completed in the spring of 2023. We chose to take a bottom-up approach, which as far as we know is the first example in the world for an entire country. It will be exciting to continue working on this and to lay out the big plans for tourism. The possibilities are numerous, and we intend to make the best of them to benefit the Faroe Islands.

This annual report provides a closer picture of our operations in 2022.

Happy reading!

We welcomed around 150 foreign media personnel, including 47 Instagrammers. Although this is much less than a typical year, it is still more than in 2021 when only 100

I am happy that more and more emphasis is being placed on sustainability in the idnustry, and that the Faroe Islands have also achieved a higher ranking on the GDS index in

Guðrið Højgaard Director, Visit Faroe Islands

Key figures 2022

Accommodation at lodging facilities

228,757 +32% compared to 2019

Hotel rooms with environmental certification

33% +100% compared to 2019

Turnover from tourism

900 MILLION DKK compared to

Percentage of total Faroese export value

6% compared to 6.4% in 2019

GDS Index 2022

29th PLACE

Faroe Islands are on the TOP 30 list of sustainable tourism destinations

Score on a 5-point scale of tourists' satisfaction with experiences in the Faroe Islands Media and collaboration visits

150 compared to 226 in 2019

4.7 points -0.1 points compared to survey from 2018