Interview: Denmark to woo more Chinese tourists with better service: official

Tourism authorities in Denmark will continue to work on and improve tourism facilities and service aimed at Chinese tourists so as to attract more of them to visit the Scandinavian country, a top tourism official told Xinhua on Thursday.

In the meantime, Chinese tourists are encouraged to explore more cities and areas of Denmark, which has a lot to offer with its long history and colorful culture along with its beauty of nature, Flemming Bruhn, director of Visit Denmark, the country's official tourism agency, said in an interview.

Bruhn said Denmark is a very small country compared with China, but still the two countries have a lot to give to and learn from each other.

Over the past few years, Denmark has witnessed a growing number of Chinese tourists. Figures show that Chinese tourists to Denmark quadrupled to about 200,000 in 2015 from only 50,000 in 2010.

Bruhn said Chinese tourists normally do not visit Denmark only. Instead, they will further go to other Northen European countries from Denmark to see Norwaign fjords and the Swedish capital of Stockholm, etc.

"This is a challenge for Denmark, because geographically the country is only a small part of Northern Europe, and many Chinese tourists as well as those from other Asian countries will normally stay in Denmark for only one day," Bruhn said.

"The very clear strategy for Visit Denmark is to let tourists stay more nights in Denmark before they further go to other Scandinavia countries," he said.

Meanwhile, Chinese tourists will mostly stay in the capital city of Copenhagen when they come to Denmark, just like Scandinavian tourists to China will mostly visit Beijing and Shanghai, Bruhn noted.

"We need to tell more to the Chinese tourists about Denmark, which has more to offer than Copenhagen," he said.

So far, Visit Denmark has established cooperation with several Chinese major tour operators to promote Denmark tour in China.

"Now we are trying to get more direct connections with the consumers through new social media platforms like Weibo and Wechat as well as online travel platforms like Ctrip," Bruhn added.

To make Denmark more Chinese-friendly and to make Chinese travellers' stay here more comfortable, Visit Denmark together with some local tourism promotion agencies have made great efforts to improve and adjust facilities and services.

For example, Copenhagen now has more Chinese signs at the airport, on the streets and at various sightseeing spots. The local tourism institutes like Wonderful Copenhagen have also educated hotels and shops about the Chinese culture so as to better understand the Chinese customers, according to Bruhn.

"We know that sometimes it is difficult for the Chinese tourists because of different languages. Sometimes it is only about small things that have to be understood and adjusted so that the Chinese tourists can feel safe and at home," he said.

Wonderful Copenhagen has organized trainings since 2012 among tourism industry to make them familiar with the Chinese culture.

In more and more hotels in Copenhagen as well as in Odense, the hometown of Danish literature master H.C. Anderson, hot water is now served to cater for the needs of the Chinese tourists, and Chinese TV channels are opened.

"These are some small things that can make so much a difference for the consumers," Bruhn said.

With all these efforts, Bruhn said he expects that Denmark will have at least 20 percent increase of tourists from China every year. Endit