Editor: Lena Jörgensson - Phone: +46-8-789 24 09 Fax: +46-8-789 24 50 E-mail: [email protected]
Editor: Lena Jörgensson - Phone: +46-8-789 24 09 Fax: +46-8-789 24 50
E-mail: [email protected]
| September 1998
New tourist record PREVIOUS NEWS July '98 |
New
tourist record
Stockholm is well on the way to a new tourism record. During the first half of 1998 the number of both Swedish and foreign visitors increased by 11% over the same period last year, with an additional 280,000 guest-nights (overnight stays at hotels, youth hostels etc). Among the foreign visitors, Estonia accounted for the biggest increase with a growth of 295% over January-June 1997. It was followed by Canada (88%), Latvia (72%), France (62%) and Japan (51%). If this trend continues to the end of the year – and there are so far no indications to the contrary – the number of annual guest-nights in the Greater Stockholm area will reach 7 million, twice as many as Copenhagen, for example. This implies a 1 billion kronor increase in turnover for the tourism industry in Stockholm and will lead to 1,000 new full-time jobs. The increased number of guest-nights – 500,000 in 1998 – is equivalent to the capacity of no less than 10 medium-sized hotels. Several factors are behind the new influx of visitors to Stockholm: the Cultural Capital year, the massive marketing campaign for the city, and increased awareness of the city through the campaign to secure the 2004 Olympic Games. A recent reader survey in the British Sunday newspaper The
Observer placed Sweden among the world's top 10 tourist destinations.
Stockholm was also awarded the highest rating among European tourist cities. More Britons travel to Stockholm Stockholmers’ love affair with London is a well-known and long-standing phenomenon. But the fact that Londoners – and other Britons – have finally discovered the attractions of Stockholm is a well-kept secret. Jane Wilde, press and travel trade manager at the London office of the Swedish Travel & Tourism Council, reports that travel to Sweden – particularly to Stockholm – by Britons has increased by 50% over the latest three-year period. "The majority of visitors are well-educated – couples in their 40s," says Jane Wilde. "But we have also noticed that many younger people of 25-30 are more interested in Stockholm and the rest of Sweden than they used to be." Cheaper air travel to Stockholm (GBP 100 return
instead of GBP 200) is one explanation for the upsurge in visitors from
the UK. Travel supplements in many British newspapers and monthly magazines
highlighting the Cultural Capital year have also boosted the figures.
And last but not least was last year's highly successful Carl Larsson
exhibition at the Victoria and Albert Museum in London which attracted
more than 35,000 visitors. Stockholm once had a reputation in the UK of
being cold, expensive and boring, but now it is regarded as a trendy city
with a massive range of cultural events and a swinging nightlife. Swedish
design, home furnishings, clothing and other textiles are Britons' favourite
purchases when they visit Stockholm, says Jane Wilde. Healthy figures for Cultural Capital '98 An opinion poll carried out in June shows that 97% of Swedes think that Stockholm's year as Cultural Capital of Europe has been good for Sweden. This is an increase of 2 percentage points compared with similar surveys in August 1997 and May 1996. For the first time, independent organisers of cultural events have made tickets available within Sweden through the computerised ticket-sales agency BiljettDirekt, in co-operation with Stockholm Information Service. Total sales through BiljettDirekt have increased by 72% compared with the previous year, and overall sales of tickets for special events up to the end of June were up by 31%. Venues which have increased their audiences include the Royal Dramatic Theatre and the Stockholm City Theatre (both up by 9%). The "Re-Orient" Festival had 15% more visitors than last year. The exhibition "Gardens and Handicrafts" at Rosendal attracted 87,901 visitors between 26 May and 31 July – an average of 1,339 per day – and it continues until 31 October. The project "The Vikings are Coming!" attracted more than 20,000 visitors over two days. The Stockholm '98 information centre at the Cultural Centre, open throughout the week, had 123,047 visitors during the first half-year, with an average of 1,176 per day during July. Between January and July about 1,200 international
journalists visited the Cultural Capital office, and all the major European
TV and radio networks have put out programmes highlighting Stockholm.
Among them were BBC 1, 2 and 3; BBC World Service; CNN; Channels 1 and
2 in Russia; ARD, ZDF, WDR in Germany; and China's biggest TV channel. World Police & Fire Games expect 42 000 visitors With 12 000 competitors in 68 different events the 1999 World Police & Fire Games in Stockholm will attract many people – both competitors and spectators. "We expect 12,000 competitors and about 30,000 foreign visitors. As the games have no entrance fees, there will probably be a lot of spectators", says Sven-Åke Hjälmroth, Chief Executive Officer of the 1999 Stockholm World Police & Fire Games. In less than a year, on 17 July, the opening ceremony of the 1999 World Police & Fire Games will be held at the 1912 Stockholm Olympic Stadium. The organisation of the games is well advanced, and everyone is focusing on arranging a successful event for the 12,000 police officers, firefighters, customs officials and prison officers who are expected to visit Sweden next summer. Many competitors have already made hotel reservations in Stockholm, even before the official registration book was distributed This is a very positive sign, indicating a high level of interest in the Stockholm World Police & Fire Games. Scandinavian Express, which is responsible for hotel bookings during the games, has made pre-reservations for 25,000 beds in Stockholm, equivalent to 70% of Stockholm's total hotel bed capacity. The normal hotel occupancy in Stockholm during July is about 50%. "Up to now, delegates have made reservations for 3,100
beds. So far most of the bookings have been made by competitors from the
United States, Canada, Australia, South Africa and Great Britain,"
says Ann Thunberg, project manager at Scandinavian Express. STOCKHOLM – FESTIVAL CITY Peaceful and popular Water Festival This year's Stockholm Water Festival, which took
place between 5 and 17 August, was a well-attended but peaceful event.
It is estimated that between 300,000 and 400,000 people took part every
day in the various activities. The exact number of visitors will be known
later on during the autumn. Four concerts with performers Tom Jones, Portishead,
P J Harvey and Björk attracted full houses with audiences of 15,000 on
the main stage at Riddarholmen. The Swedish water fireworks championship
was also a highly popular event.The 1999 Water Festival runs between 6
and 14 August. Brisbane's equivalent of the Stockholm Water Festival
– "River Festival" – gets under way in September.
Under the auspices of the International Festival Association, the founder
of the Stockholm event, Caj Malmros, is helping the city on the other
side of the world to take the first steps towards making the festival
an annual event. Just back from Australia, Malmros says Brisbane's prospects
for hosting a successful event are extremely good. He feels it is important
to establish a wide-ranging planning network within city organisations
and to invest in a comprehensive marketing campaign. Easy access to the
water and the ability to make attractive use of this natural resource
are also important, he says. Stockholm's fifth international Strindberg Festival is taking place between 22 August and 12 September. Since 1994 the festival has established itself as a highly popular cultural event among both Stockholmers and international visitors. Last year 46,000 people attended 407 different events. This year's programme offers 420 events, including nine performances of Fröken Julie (Miss Julie), the world's most frequently performed play, according to programme director Sigrid Sällström. It will be staged in the original Swedish, as well as Finnish (an important language among immigrants to Sweden) and Albanian. The festival will highlight the work of August
Strindberg, Sweden's internationally best-known author, and make it better
known among an even wider audience. Stockholm's established cultural institutions
and smaller theatres will all be taking part in the festival, as well
as writers, actors, film producers, artists and musicians. The event will
be linked to Strindberg's wide-ranging interests, including the theatre,
exhibitions, walks, installations, readings, dance and musical performances. Robert Wilson production at City Theatre After long negotiations, the distinguished American producer Robert Wilson is to stage Strindberg's play Ett Drömspel (A Dream Play) at Stockholm's City Theatre (Stadsteatern), with a première in November. The play will be performed in Swedish. "Wilson is in such demand that it took four years for me to persuade him to come to Stockholm and stage a production for us," says theatre director Peter Wahlqvist. The theatre is just one of many outlets for the
all-rounder Robert Wilson, who trained as a psychotherapist in his younger
days. He is also well known as an opera director – he was in charge
of production when the new Bastille Opera was inaugurated in Paris in
1989 – as well as film production, architecture, dance and sculpture,
for which he was awarded a Golden Lion at the Venice biennial art exhibition. International repertoir at Stockholm Concert Hall The 1998-99 season at Stockholm Concert Hall got
under way on 13 August. The blue Concert Hall is right in the city centre
at Hötorget and has been the base of the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra
since its inauguration in 1926. The Concert Hall is also well known worldwide
as the venue for the annual distribution of the Nobel Prizes on 10 December.
The Royal Philharmonic Orchestra was chosen as an ambassador for Stockholm
during the city's year as Cultural Capital of Europe. During the year
the orchestra is playing at most of the concerts in the Concert Hall's
comprehensive programme "Mahler and the Nordic Countries" which
will be completed during the autumn under the batons of Leif Segerstam,
Joseph Swensen and Kurt Masur. Masur will conclude the Mahler cycle with
his Ninth Symphony and the song cycle Lieder eines fahrenden Gesellen
with the internationally-known Swedish opera singer Håkan Hagegård (29
October). On 11 September there will be a guest performance by the Vienna
Philharmonic Orchestra conducted by Lorin Maazel, well known from the
annual New Year concert in Vienna. On Sunday 4 October there is a really
special event when the violinist Anne-Sophie Mutter will perform all Beethoven's
10 violin sonatas at three separate concerts (at 11.00, 15.00 and 19.30).
This will be followed by a concert with the violinist Viktoria Mullova.
The Concert Hall's popular series "Visa Romansen" will continue
during the autumn with Norway, Great Britain, Austria and Sweden as the
theme countries. The Austrian evening will be devoted entirely to Schubert's
Winterreise with the baritone singer Mathias Görne (3 November).
The final concert, on 1 December, will be devoted to the series' mentor,
Sweden's Anne Sofie von Otter – one of the world's most popular mezzo-sopranos
– along with Graham Johnson and the actor Reine Brynolfsson. Scandinavian Travel Market 23-25 September After four years the Scandinavian Travel Market/Bus Travel Fair has established itself as a focal point for the whole tourism industry in the Baltic region. As usual, this year's STM takes place at Stockholm International Fairs (Stockholmsmässan). About 600 exhibitors from 20 different countries will be promoting their products to industry visitors. "STM is a fair where professionals can meet and do business with their contacts in the travel and tourism industries," says Jack Herodes, responsible for STM at Stockholm International Fairs. About 85% of last year's visitors were buyers of business
travel, conference centres, hotels etc, and the remainder represented
airlines, shipping companies, rail and bus operators. The majority of
visitors were from Sweden and the other Nordic countries, and this year
there will also be strong participation from Russia, the Baltic and Poland,
making STM an excellent venue for making new contacts throughout the Baltic
region. All the leading operators and buyers of travel and tourism products
will be on the spot and eager to do business. The Sörmland Trail – one of the world's longest
footpaths – covers a distance of about 1,000 km (600 miles) and stretches
across three provinces: Stockholm, Sörmland and Östergötland. It starts
and finishes in the southern suburbs of Stockholm near Björkhagen underground
railway station. An exhibition about the trail is being staged at the
Swedish Museum of Natural History until 1 October. It highlights places
of cultural and natural interest along the route, along with the wild
animals which live there. Visitors can experience how the landscape along
the trail has developed over billions of years, with rift valleys, fault
lines, mountains and lakes. There are also traces of the Ice Age with
ice-smoothed rocks, moraines, boulder ridges and so-called giants' cauldrons.
The people who lived here several thousand years ago have also left their
traces in the form of Stone Age villages, fortifications, burial grounds,
rock carvings and rune stones. The exhibition also gives advice on accommodation
options, including tents, shelters and chalets. For several decades Stockholm has been a centre for Asiatic influences, particularly on the gastronomic front. Today visitors can enjoy value-for-money meals from various parts of China and India as well as Thailand, Indonesia, Vietnam, Korea and, above all, Japan. It is no exaggeration to say that the sushi restaurants have blazed a triumphant trail through the whole of Stockholm and the surrounding region."Japanese food represents a lifestyle which is significant for the stressed big-city dwellers of the 1990s, and stress is unlikely to disappear in the foreseeable future, says Norio Torimoto at the Japanese Association in Stockholm. Japanese-style bathing in Stockholm archipelago Hasseludden Konferens & Yasuragi is Scandinavia's first
Japanese-style bath-house, set in an attractive archipelago location just
20 minutes from the city centre. The Japanese bath – an ancient tradition
– has various stages which must be taken in strict order. The most
important part is the initial washing, in which visitors sit on a low
stool and wash and massage themselves with a small hand towel. They then
fill a wooden bucket with water and pour it over themselves before bathing
in the small pools which are heated to 38-40ºC. Finally it's time for
a dip in the large 25 metre pool (also heated), located alongside a Japanese
tea house. When the bathing ceremony is finished guests can go up a staircase
to enjoy Japanese specialities in the newly-built restaurant. Visitors
can either sit on the floor as in Japan, at a table, or out on the balcony
with a beautiful view over the bay. Hasseludden also has a treatment department
with qualified masseurs trained to detect signs of stress. Both groups
and individual guests are welcome, but not families with children because
many visitors go to Hasseludden for meditation. Japanese calligraphy at Museum of Far East Antiquities Calligraphy is a highly popular art form in Japan,
with about 10 million practitioners. A special exhibition, "Sho",
featuring work by 250 calligraphers, is being staged at the Museum of
Far East Antiquities in Stockholm to celebrate the golden jubilee of the
calligraphy organisation Mainichi Shodo-Tens. The organisation's exhibitions
are among the biggest of their kind and are supported by the major Japanese
daily newspaper Mainichi Shinbun and other sponsors. Since the
first exhibition was held in Japan in 1948 it has become an annual event
visited by about 100,000 people every year. Since 1970 the Mainichi exhibitions
have also been staged at many cities throughout the world. "Sho"
came to Stockholm from Paris and continues until 29 September. Catherine the Great and Gustav III at the National Museum On 9 October the National Museum will open a new exhibition,
"Catherine the Great and Gustav III", in co-operation with the
Hermitage Museum in St Petersburg. The exhibition, which continues until
28 February 1999, highlights the relationship between the two cousins,
Catherine and Gustav, rulers of Russia and Sweden respectively. Few lives
can have been as fascinating as those of these two historical personalities.
The young Catherine travelled to Russia at the age of only 15, never to
return to her home in Stettin, while Gustav III, the "theatre king",
provided the people with more drama than bread and was finally assassinated
during a masked ball in Stockholm in 1792. Catherine and Gustav exchanged
many letters which are being published in book form in conjunction with
the exhibition. The aim of the exhibition is to shed new light on a historical
era which started when Catherine seized power in Russia in 1762 and finished
with her death in 1796. During 1999 the exhibition will also be staged
at the Hermitage in St Petersburg. With a total of 100 international congresses and meetings
– of which 20 are directly associated with the Cultural Capital Year
– 1998 will be a record year for Stockholm congress organisers. Three
major international congresses this autumn – totalling 20,000 overnight
stays – will generate a turnover of SEK 45 million. Leading this
autumn's events was the 11th Annual Congress of the European Society of
Intensive Care Medicine, held on 6-9 September, with 2,000 participants
meeting at Stockholm International Fairs. This meeting alone generated
8,000 hotel nights with a turnover of approximately SEK 20 million. Immediately
following that meeting, the 14th European Congress on Multiple Sclerosis,
with 1,500 participants, started its sessions at the downtown Stockholm
City Conference Centre. Towards the end of November, Stockholm's universities
and colleges will host the 10th European Conference of the European Association
for International Education. About 1,500 participants from all over the
world will gather at Congresses and business tourism generate nearly
SEK 1 billion annually and constitute a vital source of income for the
Stockholm region. Three expatriate Swedes exhibit in Stockholm Three internationally known Swedish artists are
jointly displaying their works at Sotheby's Stockholm branch from 3-30
September. Sweden's first female silversmith, Torun Bülow-Hübe, reached
world recognition during the early 1960s when she was associated with
the Danish firm Georg Jensen. Her view – that a piece of jewellery
should always emphasise the wearer, the woman, rather than being a mere
status symbol – is still valid. She has lived in Jakarta (Indonesia)
since 1978. The ceramics artist Hans Hedberg is a master of glazing. His
early works include everyday items such as dishes and bowls but he is
now best known for his large ceramic fruit models. His works have been
exhibited all over the world and he is represented at some 15 museums,
including the Museum of Modern Art in New York. The artist Lars Gynning,
who also used to live in France, has achieved wide appeal with his tapestries.
Picasso, Miro and Léger are among the artists whose sketches have been
transformed into exquisite tapestry. His works have been displayed at
numerous exhibitions in Europe. Lars Gynning is represented at the Chicago
Art Museum and the Musée des Beaux Arts in Tours. Translated by Philip Ray
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