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Foreign business travellers a boon to Danish coffers

Christian Wenande
April 16th, 2018


This article is more than 6 years old.

Attractive group spends close to twice as much as Danish leisure tourists

Business or pleasure? Or both? (photo: Pixabay)

Denmark is doing its best to attract business tourists from abroad, and according to the national confederation for industry, Dansk Industri (DI), there’s good reason for that.

That’s because people who come to Denmark from abroad for business purposes spend more than any other kind of tourist – foreign or local.

On average, foreign business tourists spend 2,150 kroner per 24 hours in Denmark, compared to 1,800 kroner spent by leisure tourists from abroad, 1,750 by Danish business travellers and 1,300 by Danish leisure tourists.

“We have good possibilities in Denmark when it comes to competing for business tourists. We have a lot going for us – but so do our neighbours and they look to have won the latest rounds of the competition,” said Sune K Jensen, the head of tourism efforts for DI.

“Despite the greatest share of business tourism being local, the international portion is certainly also worth aiming for. Not only are foreign business people good customers for Danish tourism companies, but it is a growing market. Business tourists come all year round and not just in the tourist season. So in that way we are better utilising our capacity.”

READ MORE: Denmark missing out on tourism millions

Dutch and Swedes ahead
Jensen contended that Denmark needs to improve its infrastructure and take advantage of its strengths – such as gastronomy, sustainability and innovation – when attracting foreign business tourists.

The figures show that the Netherlands and Sweden have both surpassed Denmark in terms of attracting international business travellers in recent years.

Currently, business tourism accounts for about 27 billion kroner a year in Denmark – about a quarter of the total turnover yielded by the entire tourism industry.


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A survey carried out by Megafon for TV2 has found that 71 percent of parents have handed over children to daycare in spite of them being sick.

Moreover, 21 percent of those surveyed admitted to medicating their kids with paracetamol, such as Panodil, before sending them to school.

The FOLA parents’ organisation is shocked by the findings.

“I think it is absolutely crazy. It simply cannot be that a child goes to school sick and plays with lots of other children. Then we are faced with the fact that they will infect the whole institution,” said FOLA chair Signe Nielsen.

Pill pushers
At the Børnehuset daycare institution in Silkeborg a meeting was called where parents were implored not to bring their sick children to school.

At Børnehuset there are fears that parents prefer to pack their kids off with a pill without informing teachers.

“We occasionally have children who that they have had a pill for breakfast,” said headteacher Susanne Bødker. “You might think that it is a Panodil more than a vitamin pill, if it is a child who has just been sick, for example.”

Parents sick and tired
Parents, when confronted, often cite pressure at work as a reason for not being able to stay at home with their children.

Many declare that they simply cannot take another day off, as they are afraid of being fired.

Allan Randrup Thomsen, a professor of virology at KU, has heavily criticised the parents’ actions, describing the current situation as a “vicious circle”.

“It promotes the spread of viruses, and it adds momentum to a cycle where parents are pressured by high levels of sick-leave. If they then choose to send the children to daycare while they are still recovering, they keep the epidemic going in daycares, and this in turn puts a greater burden on the parents.”