Copenhagen Property Market Report 2020

Copenhagen Property Market Report 2020

110

Tourism is a growth driver Demand growth is to a high extent driven by tourism, which has been surging in recent years at higher growth rates even than business-related visits. The growth in tourism is to some extent determined by international trends: Airline tickets have become more affordable, boosting the number of e.g. short-stay city breaks. By the same token, the middle classes of China and other Asian countries now have the means to travel. However, local factors are just as important: Thanks to effective marketing, Copenhagen has succeeded in positioning itself as a cruise hub, with many visitors either embarking or disembarking in Copenhagen, flying in and out of Copenhagen as a result. According to analyses by tourist organisation Wonderful Copenhagen, they tend to prolong their stay by a few days or so. Copenhagen Airport is expanding its capacity and range of destinations these years, e.g. by adding more direct flights. In addition, Copenhagen has managed to create attention in various ways that attract visitors, e.g. Noma (the restaurant), top rankings in international travel media as well as television series Borgen and The Killing, popular in particular in the UK. Most recently, Royal Arena, opening at Ørestad in 2017, has attracted a number of over-night visitors on account of concerts and not least sports events, e.g. the world championships in ice hockey and handball. However, tourism growth has also taken its toll on life in the city. Central Copenhagen residents are complaining about the number of tourists, although local protests by no means compare in scale to those seen in e.g. Barcelona. Political support to tourism is substantial, and the city council and Wonderful Copenhagen hope that the problem is resolved when tourists start to fan out from the city centre to more peripheral Copenhagen locations after the opening of CityRingen in autumn 2019.

Turisme trækker væksten Væksten i efterspørgslen er i høj grad trukket af turisme, som er vokset kraftigt de senere år og også mere end antallet af forretningsrejser. En del af fremgangen skyldes internationale tendenser: Flyrejser er blevet billigere, og det har givet kraftig vækst i fx kortere storbyrejser, ligesom middelklassen i Kina og andre lande i Asien har fået mulighed for at rejse. Lokale faktorer er imidlertid lige så vigtige: København har med held og effektiv markedsføring fået positioneret sig som knudepunkt inden for krydstogter, så mange rejsende enten indleder eller afslutter sejladsen i København og derfor flyver hertil – og de forlænger ofte opholdet med nogle dage ifølge analyser fra turismeorganisationen Wonderful Copenhagen. Københavns Lufthavn udbygger i disse år sin kapacitet og sit rutenet, blandt andet med flere direkte ruter. Desuden har København på forskellig vis skabt opmærksomhed, der trækker gæster til – fx med restauranten Noma, med kåringer i internationale rejsemedier samt med tv-serierne Borgen og Forbrydelsen, som især er populære i Storbritannien. Senest har Royal Arena i Ørestad siden åbningen i 2017 tiltrukket mange overnattende gæster med store koncerter og ikke mindst sportsarrangementer som VM i ishockey og håndbold. Den stigende turisme har dog også skabt udfordringer for bylivet. I Indre By klager beboere over mængden af turister, om end de lokale protester slet ikke har samme omfang som fx i Barcelona. Politisk er der stor opbakning til turismen, og rådhuset og Wonderful Copenhagen håber, at problemet kan løses ved, at turisterne i centrum vil blive spredt over en større del af hovedstaden med åbningen af CityRingen i efteråret 2019.

China accounting for highest relative bednight growth

21.9%

12.3%

3.7%

China

Germany

Australia

3.6%

Spain

15.2%

9.6%

France

USA

2.1%

UK

15.2%

6%

Denmark

Netherlands

Note: Based on sample of top-15 countries in terms of number of Copenhagen visitors. Source: Statistics Denmark