Odense sets tourism record

Ambitious investment in urban renewal and culture is now paying off

Influential international media such as The New York Times and Vogue have truly discovered Odense as a cultural hub. That recognition is now backed by record-high visitor numbers at the city’s largest attractions and hotels in 2022. According to Mayor Peter Rahbæk Juel, this is the result of years of ambitious investment in urban transformation, the new H.C. Andersen House and infrastructure.

Odense has worked strategically and intensively on urban development. This includes a major transformation of the city centre – including the redevelopment of Thomas B. Thriges Gade, the introduction of a light rail system, and not least the opening of the new H.C. Andersen House. Taken together, this revitalisation has helped make Odense an attractive cultural destination.

The strategic and visionary work behind the city’s development has had a positive impact on the number of tourists visiting the city, as also highlighted by Statistics Denmark. The figures for 2022 show that Odense has never welcomed more tourists.

The overnight stay figures alone show that Odense exceeded 2019 by 10% even before December had been included. Based on local figures, total growth for 2022 also appears likely to end at around 15%. By comparison, the average for Denmark’s three other largest cities is approximately 7%.

In addition, the city’s largest attractions all enjoyed record years in 2022. Across the six museums that together make up Museum Odense, visitor numbers reached 350,000. Odense Zoo welcomed almost 450,000 visitors, while Brandts Art Museum recorded a total of 107,000 guests.

Odense’s newly won status as a must-visit cultural destination was recently underlined by the influential American fashion magazine Vogue as well as The New York Times, which ranked Odense an impressive 28th on its list of 50 places to visit in 2023.

The remarkable growth in tourism delights Mayor Peter Rahbæk Juel:

“It has been a long-term and intensive process to invest in the development of Odense in the way we have done. That is why it makes me proud on behalf of the city that we can now truly see, measure and feel the results. In addition to record-high visitor numbers at the city’s attractions and hotels, over the past five years we have also seen major growth in the tourism industry, with more than 700 additional jobs,” he says, before continuing:

“So not only are we attracting many more visitors from outside the city, we are also receiving considerable attention in foreign media, which have likewise begun to recognise Odense’s many qualities. This really confirms that the development of the city centre was the right strategy and has genuinely helped transform the atmosphere in the centre and create a much better setting for the city’s many cultural offerings and experiences,” says Mayor Peter Rahbæk Juel.

Kind regards,
HAVE Kommunikation & PR