Picture:Femern A/S
The analysis phase, focusing on the Fehmarnbelt Region tourism in a European context, is now completed, and a number of interesting facts have surfaced. With a total of 59 million annual bednights, the tourism in the Fehmarnbelt Region is larger than destinations like Croatia, The Canary Islands and London. However, tourism is still heavily based upon domestic visitors, which accounts for more than 80%. This leaves room for expanding the market place for inter-regional and international tourism. The optimistic message is that tourism is growing, and since 2004 we have seen an average annual growth of 16%.
“Tourism is really important in the initial phases of integration process across borders that we will see over the next 10 – 15 years between Skåne, Zealand and Northern Germany. It is also a substantial part of the economy and employment in the area, and therefore it is of utmost importance that we see the new interlinked product consisting of the two metropolis Hamburg and Copenhagen in close symbiosis with what the surrounding regions offers. The dot on the tourism world atlas for this region simply becomes bigger and will generate more turnovers for the industry when we work together” states Jacob Vestergaard, Managing Director of STRING.
In order to further develop tourism across the regional borders, the next strategic task is to develop a project catalogue consisting of initiatives to be implemented in the years to come. It could be joint marketing efforts on selected markets, event collaborations or package deals including transportation. After all, it will be these projects, which will transform the tourism potential into actual growth.
“The tourism strategy for the Fehmarnbelt Region will be completed in a few months, but I am already very focused on how we will use it in the years to come. It’s about finding the right organizational set-up in order to secure a smooth transition to a more operational and project oriented phase 2”, says CEO of Wonderful Copenhagen, Lars Bernhard Jørgensen.
TheBuilding Tourismstrategy will be presented at a STRING conference 29 August 2013.
For further information on the findings of the Building Toursim project, please click here