Denmark sees record spike in overnight stays

Danes haven’t had as many tourists on overnight stays from abroad since 1993

Last week a new analysis documented that Denmark’s tourism industry has enjoyed significant growth in recent years.

And today it has emerged that Denmark has set a new record in terms of overnight stays by foreign tourists for the fifth year in a row. The previous record for total stays (Danish and foreign overnight stays) from 1993 has also been broken.

In total, there were 53.8 million overnight stays in Denmark last year – an increase of almost 1.4 million compared to the year before – and over half (27.4 million) were by people from abroad.

“It’s fantastic that Denmark experienced a growth in overnight stays by foreigners once again in 2018, and that the growth was particularly spurred on in the off season,” said Jan Olsen, the head of tourism organisation VisitDenmark.

“In 2018, we focused on attracting more foreign tourists and this is a strategy we need to build on – in terms of new initiatives for destinations and through marketing.”

READ MORE: Denmark’s tourist industry is doing very nicely, thank you

Swedes galore
The figures, which come from national statistics keepers Danmarks Statistik, revealed that overnight stays in hotels and on camp sites saw a significant increase by about 450,000 each compared to 2017.

Swedes accounted for most overnight hotel stays by foreigners in Denmark last year with 958,000, followed by Norwegians (871,000), people from the UK (692,000), Germans (687,000) and Americans (682,000).

The top 10 was rounded out by Italy (278,000), the Netherlands (234,000), China (213,000), France (206,000) and Spain (202,000).

Danish marinas and hostels also enjoyed spectacular growth with about 150,000 and 245,000 more overnight stays, respectively. Meanwhile, holiday centres saw a decline of about 50,000 overnight stays compared to the year before.

The tourism trend could very well continue this year, particularly following renowned travel guide Lonely Planet picking Copenhagen as ‘The world’s top city for 2019’. 

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