Tourism: Denmark attracts record number of Chinese visitors

The number of Chinese visitors to Denmark has soared since the start of the 2017 China-Denmark Tourism Year, it is expected that 262,000 people will visit the country this year.

According to VisitDenmark, the country's popularity has been steadily growing during the past few years. It saw about 161,000 Chinese tourists book hotel beds in 2014, 198,000 in 2015, and 221,000 in 2016.

Tour operator Tuniu said the number of Chinese visitors to Denmark was only 50,000 in 2009.

Since the launch of the 2017 China-Denmark Tourism Year on Feb 24, Denmark and its Chinese partners have engaged in several events aimed at attracting more Chinese tourists to the Scandinavian country.

The initiative will end on Dec 5 with a wrap-up event at the Royal Danish Theatre's Old Stage in Copenhagen.

VisitDenmark, the country's official tourism organization, held an online campaign during April and May, along with China DiDi Rental Car Company. The campaign encouraged people to create their dream self-drive trips in Denmark via multimedia platforms.

And in May, when Denmark's shores were clogged up with non-native oysters, the news went viral on Weibo and Chinese netizens offered to help by "eating them to extinction".

Following this, VisitDenmark released a series of travel videos and launched a reality show with Denmark as the backdrop that was produced jointly alongside Shanghai Dragon TV and well-known Chinese bloggers.

Other activities held during the special year included a range of seminars, meetings, and campaigns.
 
Read more: Denmark attracts record number of Chinese visitors - World - Chinadaily.com.cn

A Europe of incentives: how to regain the trust of citizens and the markets - by Mark Leonard

After months of failed short-term fixes and mounting panic, European leaders from Merkel to Cameron are now agreed that the only sustainable solution to the euro crisis is political integration.
A new ECFR policy brief – ‘A Europe of incentives: regaining the trust of citizens and markets’ by Mark Leonard and Jan Zielonka – lays out how more inclusive Europe could be achieved.
The paper also suggests ways to avoid a Two-Class Europe where decision making is dominated by powerful countries, the technocracy-populism trap and continued crushing austerity.

• Crisis countries need to be relieved from excessive interest rate burdens that prohibit growth, for instance through moving towards Eurobonds or introducing a European debt redemption fund. (For other concrete measures see this recent ECFR paper.)
   
• The gulf in competitiveness that lies at the heart of the euro crisis needs to be tackled with rewards for reform, rather than a punitive regime obsessed with rules and outcomes. Efforts need to be made to expand the single market in services, energy and the digital economy, and reinvigorate the vision of a Europe that brings prosperity.
   
• Europe needs to empower and involve its citizens rather than alienate them. For instance a weekly council of national deputy prime ministers could make Brussels more accountable and democratic, and a second European Parliament chamber could be created from national MPs to help sign off national budgets.

"Angela Merkel says that political union is the key to fiscal union, but Europe is becoming an "apolitical union" where elections allow citizens to change governments but not policies, and technocrats rule the roost. What is needed is a new reform agenda that is generous, flexible, empowering - a Europe of incentives."
For more: ECFR58_EUROPE_INCENTIVES_REPORT_AW.pdf (application/pdf Object)