Read news from:
Austria
SHARE
COPY LINK

TOURISM

Who visits Denmark in summer and where do the tourists go?

Tourism in Denmark is still rebounding after the bottom fell out in 2020. But which kind of tourists come to Denmark in the summer? Where are they from and where do they go?

Published: 27 July 2022 17:17 CEST
Who visits Denmark in summer and where do the tourists go?
Every day in Copenhagen's scenic Nyhavn, sightseers line up for boat tours of the canals. But where are these tourists from? Photo: Ida Marie Odgaard/Ritzau Scanpix

The Local scoured data from Tourism Denmark to learn who it is asking for directions in Copenhagen and hogging beach space on Danish shores. 

Overwhelmingly, it’s Danes that visit Denmark — two thirds of all overnight tourism in 2021 was from Danes spending their holidays in other parts of their own country. 

But as for foreign tourism, Denmark’s neighbours to the south take the lion’s share. Germans spent more than 13.2 million overnight visits in Denmark in 2021. 

Next up is the Netherlands, which sent more than 717,000 overnight guests to Denmark. Swedes and Norwegians spent 604,000 and 412,00 overnight stays in Denmark, respectively, while the UK and the US both contributed about 200,000 stays. 

Country of Origin  Overnight visitors to Denmark in 2021
1. Germany 13.2 million
2. The Netherlands 717,900
3. Sweden 604,000
4. Norway 412,600
5. The United Kingdom 208,900
6. United States 199,300
7. France 164,100
8. Italy 161,500
9. India 18,100
10. China 14,500

Where do they spend the night? 

Forty-two percent of all tourists, including Danes, spent their vacations in rented holiday homes, while 23 percent camped outside. Only 23 percent of all overnight stays in Denmark were in hotels — holiday centers, hostels, and marinas round out the rest. 

READ MORE: Summer houses in Denmark: What are the rules and when can you live in them?

Beaches beat the cities 

A whopping 80 percent of overnight stays were for coastal and nature tourism — that’s the summer house culture for you — while only 11 percent was tourism to big cities. Business tourism accounted for the last 9 percent. 

Favourite destinations by country 

German tourists flocked to a region called Vesterhavet (literally ‘the western sea’ in Danish), spending 5 million overnight stays there in 2021. The distant second and third favorite destinations for holiday-making Germans in Denmark were Nordvestkysten (‘the north west coast,’ which saw 2.3 million overnight stays) and Southern Jutland with 1.6 million. 

As far as the US is concerned, Denmark might as well be a city-state — 77 percent of American visitors stayed in Denmark’s capital city, while 63 percent of UK tourists and nearly half of all visits from Swedes were to Copenhagen. 

Norwegians have a broader palate for Denmark’s diverse charms, with about a third staying in Copenhagen and the other two thirds spread across the Danish islands and beaches. 

Member comments

Log in here to leave a comment.
Become a Member to leave a comment.
For members

DISCOVER DENMARK

How many places in Denmark have different names in English?

If you’ve spent any time in Denmark’s capital, you’ll know the locals refer to it as København. Does anywhere else apart from Copenhagen have an English version of its name, and why?

Published: 19 September 2024 16:12 CEST
How many places in Denmark have different names in English?

Most people who regularly travel in and out of Denmark probably know that the code for the country’s biggest airport is CPH. This is, of course, a contraction of Copenhagen.

Meanwhile, it’s very common for younger Danes to refer to the city as “Kbh”, especially in writing but also in spoken Danish. This uses a similar contraction using the Danish-language (and original) name of the city, København.

København is generally considered to have made the linguistic change from Danish to English via German, in which it has yet another name, Kopenhagen.

Kopenhagen means “merchant harbour” in an archaic version of German, and from there it only takes a substitution of K for C to get to the English name.

This might not be the only reason that an English version of København – and possibly other Danish place names – has persisted over the centuries.

Difficult pronunciation – something most foreign speakers of Danish will be well acquainted with – is also a likely factor, according to a language professor, Jørn Lund, who spoke to newspaper BT about the topic in 2015.

“All over the world you have place names made easier to pronounce if they’re difficult. And København is hard to say for people other than us Danes,” he said.

“We also don’t say Roma about Rome the way Italians do. And I’d probably feel a bit hoity-toity if I did,” he noted.

READ ALSO: How to decode Denmark’s old-fashioned motorway names

Putting Copenhagen aside, the three largest geographical components of Denmark all have English versions of their names: Jutland (Jylland in Danish), Funen (Fyn) and Zealand (Sjælland).

The latter of these is perhaps the most confusing given its similarity to New Zealand. The country in the southern hemisphere was not given its name because of the Danish island but after the Dutch region of Zeeland.

Funen feels very counterintuitive if you’re already familiar with Fyn – which is very likely if you live in Denmark. Many Danes have never heard of the English ‘Funen’ and might be confused if you say it.

Perhaps the most recognisable of the three is Jutland, because the word itself was made famous by a First World War naval battle, the Battle of Jutland. This historical event is probably better-known to British people than it is to Danes.

The words Jutland, Zealand and Funen sound similar to their Latin versions Jutlandia, Selandia and Fionia, but can also be traced to older German names such as ‘Seeland’ for Zealand/Sjælland.  

Another Latin name for a Danish island, Lalandia, gave itself to a chain of holiday centres and water parks, the first of which was built on the island in question – Lolland. Lolland retains its Danish name in English, much to the amusement of some internet users who might read it as LOL-land.

 
 
 
 
 
View this post on Instagram
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

A post shared by Lolland Kommune (@lollandkommune)

Some parts of Denmark have had a historical strategic significance for seafaring countries, not least Great Britain. This might explain why the Øresund is sometimes referred to in English simply as “The Sound”. The straits separate Denmark and Sweden and saw a toll enforced on passing ships by Kronborg Castle in the 17th and 18th centuries.

That brings us neatly to Helsingør, the town still dominated by Kronborg’s imposing presence. Famously the setting of Shakespeare’s Hamlet, Helsingør is known as Elsinore to some English speakers, especially those who enjoy the works of the Bard. The name from the centuries-old play might not be commonly used anymore, but is at least referenced by some businesses in Helsingør.

 
 
 
 
 
View this post on Instagram
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

A post shared by Værftets Madmarked (@vaerftetsmadmarked)

What about Denmark itself? In Danish, it’s written as Danmark, which makes a bit more sense if you think of the people as being called the Danes. Unlike any of the other examples we’ve covered, the two words are pronounced identically.

Are there any other Danish places with English names that aren’t covered here? Are there any facts or stories we’ve missed? Let us know in the comments.

SHOW COMMENTS