Office workers and tourists are steadily returning to European cities and are now at close to 80% of pre-pandemic levels on average with London, Paris and Brussels leading the way, according to exclusive figures studying elevator usage.

Kone provides elevators, escalators and automatic building doors across Europe, and it has measured the number of elevator journeys taken in offices and hotels in major European cities from January 2018 to March 2023.

Data for London shows that office elevator usage peaked in February 2020, just as the first cases of COVID-19 were being detected in the UK, when the average number of starts per elevator was 12,800. By April, once the UK’s official lockdown was underway, this had dramatically dropped by 80%.

In March 2023, Kone’s office data for London shows that the average number of starts per elevator was 10,200, or 80% of the pre-pandemic level. The city has seen a slow and steady upward trend since February 2021 when the most serious restrictions on movement started to lift.

The data set for the European office sector is a reminder of how dramatic the drop in the movement of people once lockdowns were introduced. Paris shows the most severe fall in the movement of people in its offices as it went from an average of 9,300 starts per elevator in February 2020 to just 800 by April - a reduction of over 90%.

In terms of other cities’ elevator journeys over the last three years, from February 2020 to March 2023, this is the story by city measured by average starts per Kone elevator:

• Berlin: 7,500 to 5,300 – a 71% recovery (of the pre-pandemic level)
  
• Brussels: 8,600 to 7,600 – an 88% recovery
  
• Hamburg: 7,000 to 5,000 – a 71% recovery
  
• Helsinki: 8,700 to 6,300 – a 72% recovery
  
• Milan: 10,100 to 8,000 – a 79% recovery
  
• Munich: 8,200 to 5,700 – a 70% recovery
  
• Paris: 9,300 to 7,700 – an 82% recovery

The return of people to Europe’s hotel sector has been stronger than the office sector. Paris tops the European table for the strongest recovery out of the major European cities with an average of 15,000 in March 2023, a 99% recovery of the 15,100 monthly journeys per elevator recorded in February 2020.

In London, on the eve of the pandemic in February 2020, the average number of starts per hotel elevator was 21,500, which by last month, in March 2023, was 18,900 – a recovery of 88%.

Other major European cities have also seen a healthy return of tourists and business visitors. The average number of starts per hotel elevator from February 2020 to March 2023 were:

• Amsterdam: 25,100 to 22,500 – a 90% recovery
  
• Berlin: 17,900 to 16,300 – a 90% recovery
  
• Brussels: 13,300 to 12,400 – a 93% recovery
  
• Hamburg: 17,300 to 19,700 – a 114% recovery
  
• Helsinki: 14,100 to 12,700 – a 90% recovery
  
• Milan: 10,100 to 13,000 – a 129% recovery
  
• Munich: 13,200 to 11,000 – an 83% recovery

Johannes Rastas, senior vice-president, head of software and services R&D at Kone, said: “Three years since Europe locked down and we’re now seeing a consistent positive growth trend of people flow in major urban centres - to near pre-pandemic levels. In most European cities, we expect office elevator usage to return to pre-pandemic levels by the second half of this year.

“Since before the pandemic, we have been analysing unconventional data collected from elevators in offices and hotels to reveal interesting behavioural trends. Kone’s elevator usage data tells us a different story because our equipment moves more than one billion people worldwide every day in major business centres, tourist destinations and transport hubs.”