TV2 series significantly increases demand in popular holiday city

Up to 1 million Danes have watched TV 2’s crime series Hvide Sande in recent weeks. According to several tourism operators, the popular series has led to an increase in guest activity in the West Jutland holiday city, which is of great importance for the growth of the local area.

Hvide Sande is currently receiving a remarkable amount of attention. This is largely due to TV 2’s latest crime series, which takes its name from the popular holiday city, where great Danish actors such as Carsten Bjørnlund and Marie Bach Hansen try to solve a murder mystery in the town. According to Kantar’s viewer survey, up to 1 million Danes have watched the series over the past eight weeks, and its popularity has, among other things, created an increased interest in holidaying in the area, according to one of the country’s leading holiday home agencies:

– Since the premiere episode of Hvide Sande aired in early May, we have seen a significant increase in demand in the area. Specifically, the number of bookings in Hvide Sande has increased by up to 84 percent while the series has been running. By comparison, bookings nationwide have increased by just under 10 percent over the same period, says Kim Holmsted, who is CEO of DanCenter.

Destination Vesterhavet can identify with this development, where several actors, companies and municipalities have contributed to the production of Hvide Sande:

– With the release of the episodes of Hvide Sande, we have experienced an increasing demand for holidays at the North Sea. In fact, we already felt an increase in tourism activity in the area last year, when both the production and marketing of the series started, says Peer Kristensen, who is CEO of Destination Vesterhavet.

This is confirmed by VisitDenmark’s latest analysis of tourism in Denmark, where Destination Vesterhavet is marked as the preferred holiday destination in Denmark in 2020 with far more overnight stays than the country’s other destinations. According to Kim Holmsted, this shows that TV productions of this nature act as a tourist magnet and also have a major effect as a growth engine for the local area:

– The increase in guest activity leads to a higher tourism turnover in the local area, and this is of great importance for both the business community and the permanent residents. Increasing the consumption per day means, among other things, extending the opening hours of shops and restaurants and offering more full-time jobs in outlying areas.

Destination Vesterhavet expects demand and tourism turnover in Hvide Sande to increase further in the coming period. This is partly due to the TV 2 series being rolled out in several foreign markets, where there is great potential:

– It is our expectation that Hvide Sande can also help position Destination Vesterhavet in major foreign markets such as Sweden, Norway and, not least, Germany when the series premieres in these countries shortly. It is also our ambition that the West Coast and Destination Vesterhavet will play the leading role in even more TV productions and projects in the future, which can spread awareness of our fantastic area and thus attract even more visitors in and outside the high season, ends Peer Kristensen.

According to Peer Kristensen, concrete work is currently underway to secure an agreement for a follow-up season of Hvide Sande.