15.2.2010
CPH supports region

There is not enough international awareness of Copenhagen and the Øresund region. In order to attract more tourists and more international investments, Copenhagen Airport is joining forces with a number of public stakeholders and private companies on both sides of the Øresund strait to better promote the region abroad. This is not taxpayers' money being provided to support Copenhagen Airport, as has been claimed in parts of the media.

Copenhagen Airport has taken the initiative together with Wonderful Copenhagen and Copenhagen Capacity to set up a new fund, Copenhagen Connected, which is to work for better promotion of Copenhagen and the Øresund region abroad. The objective is to increase the awareness of the region abroad in order to attract more tourists and more business investment.

“International accessibility to the Øresund region is vital for tourism, exports and for attracting international investments to the region. If we look at what other regions and cities in Europe are doing, we can see that we need to strengthen our promotion abroad. The awareness of the region is just not good enough,” said Lars Bernhard Jørgensen, CEO of Wonderful Copenhagen and Chairman of Copenhagen Connected.

CPH contributing DKK 12 million
Copenhagen Connected must therefore raise private and public funds to increase the efforts to promote the region abroad, and plans are to raise approximately DKK 200 million over the next four years. So far, Visit Denmark has committed DKK 18 million, the City of Copenhagen has committed DKK 8 million and the Capital Region has committed DKK 16 million; in addition, Copenhagen Airport contributes DKK 12 million to the fund.

”Accordingly, Copenhagen Connected is not, as has been stated wrongly in various media, a fund from which Copenhagen Airport receives money; rather it is a fund we contribute to. In this initiative, the airport supports the city and not the other way around. New routes will bring more travellers to the city, which will benefit a wide range of stakeholders ranging from hotels, taxis, restaurants and conference centres to amusements such as Tivoli,” said Carsten Nørland, VP, Sales, Copenhagen Airport.

Moreover, an OECD report from 2009 on the competitive strength of the Danish capital shows that when 100 new jobs are created in the Copenhagen region, it leads to 20 new jobs in the rest of the country. Copenhagen Connected therefore benefits not only the Øresund region, but the whole country.

Do as Barcelona
In recent years, a number of regions and major cities in Europe have increased their international promotional activities for the benefit of both tourism and international investments. A good example is Barcelona, which has focused on promoting the city since hosting the Olympic Games in 1992. The efforts have borne fruit and this Spanish city is today a major tourist attraction.

There are currently five daily flights to Barcelona out of Copenhagen Airport operated by four different airlines. A survey made by Copenhagen Airport shows that more than 60% of the passengers on the flights to and from Barcelona are Danish and Swedish, whilst only about 15% are Spanish.

“If we can increase the awareness of Copenhagen and the Øresund Region in Barcelona, this could help increase the percentage of Spanish travellers to Copenhagen. And, everything else being equal, more Spanish visitors would mean more tourism income, for the benefit of all of Denmark,” said Nørland.