– It was like turning off a switch – E24

– It was “business as usual” to the city of Oslo advising residents not to go to a restaurant on Friday, March 13, “says Gjøran Sæther, general manager of the Furuset group, which is behind several of the best-known restaurants in Oslo.

– It was like turning off a switch, he says Friday.

Of the companies that rely on most Norwegians to withdraw their cards, the tourism industry, along with the restaurant industry, is one of the hardest hit by those who were not forced to shut down immediately due to contamination.

Although the tables were covered in several restaurants in mid-March with a one-meter gap between the guests, the companies’ turnover fell 75.69 percent from the year before last week in March, according to data from the card. DNB.

Turnover in the tourism industry, which fell the most, decreased 89.45 percent from the previous year in March.

While the transaction data doesn’t provide a complete picture, it does provide valuable insight into how Norwegians spent their money during the crisis.

After the government “closed the country” on March 12, DNB clients traded about 30 percent less than last year, a decrease of NOK 1.3 billion from the previous year.

See how money usage has evolved in E24’s comprehensive overview of how the virus affects businesses.

Games and hobbies

But they are also the product categories that have been well managed during the crisis.

When Prime Minister Erna Solberg was asked what the Norwegians who were not allowed to go to the cabin on Easter in their spare time should do, they replied, “Get some good games, pretend you’re in the cabin, but stay. at home”.

Based on the transaction data, the Norwegians may appear to have listened to Solberg, as turnover of games and hobby items increased by 30 percent the same week the prime minister received the call.

Concerned business leaders

In recent weeks, E24 has collected comments from thousands of business executives in Norway, where many have feared bankruptcy.

The government has now released several rescue packages that include cash support to cover fixed expenses and a loan guarantee for those who need immediate liquidity.

The Furuset group says the cash support looks promising so far.

Just three days after the loan guarantee was effective, DNB had received NOK 1.86 billion requests from 869 clients. In addition, Sparebanken 1 Nord-Norge had received 101 applications worth NOK 142 million, and Danske Bank, which will not disclose the amount, had received 250 loan applications under the guarantee earlier this week.

DNB’s SMB division director Roger Antonesen says the bank has had to bring teams from other parts of the business to dampen demand.

– There is tremendous uncertainty, and we are doing everything we can to respond to the best of our ability, says Antonesen.

He says many of the inquiries they have received come only from the restaurant and tourism industry, as well as from a number of other industries.

You will not need summer substitutes

Sæther is also the president of Visitoslo and is not sure what kind of summer the capital has in store and how long the restaurants will be closed.

– We are really looking forward to the next step. Now hairdressers and other companies doing business with one-on-one contacts are allowed to open, so we hope it won’t be long before restaurants can open, and then surely with contagion measures like a good distance between guests and a maximum of five people per table.

He is excited about the caution that people will go out to eat, but he believes that things will normalize when schools and kindergartens are opened, as long as the contagion situation remains under control.

– But the summer is probably coming down anyway, says Sæther, adding:

– It is difficult to know what it will be like next time, the uncertainty is what is corroding us.

Many have suggested that there will be few foreign tourists to Norway this summer, and similarly few Norwegians will book vacations abroad. Wing chief Christian Grønli went so far as to tell NRK Always News that selling summer vacations to Norwegians today is “like selling sand in the Sahara.”

The situation also affects all those who generally have summer jobs in the restaurant industry.

“We are not going to need summer vacancies this year, we are prioritizing our regular employees,” says Sæther, who adds that they generally have many seasonal workers during the summer months.