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Charlotte Amalie
Thursday, March 28, 2024
HomeNewsArchivesTURNBULL LAUNCHES WEB SITE FOR DANISH TOURISTS

TURNBULL LAUNCHES WEB SITE FOR DANISH TOURISTS

COPENHAGEN, DENMARK — Wherever Gov. Charles Turnbull went on his recent visit to Denmark, he charmed the Danes.
Turnbull was a hit at his first press conference in Copenhagen, at Rebild where he was the keynote speaker at a Fourth of July celebration and in Ålborg.
And so it happened again at the territory's official tourism office in Århus, where he cut a ribbon to launch the U.S. Virgin Islands' new web site aimed at the Danish tourism market, which can be accessed at www.dwis.dk/nyheder.html.
Danish tourism translates into big money for the territory. According to 1997 statistics provided by the V.I. Tourism Department's representative in Denmark, Torben Eirby, Danish tourism pumps about $21 million a year into the local economy.
Danes are attracted to the territory because of the 250 years of Danish rule in the V.I. prior to the United States' purchase in 1917. Since the V.I.'s tourism office opened in Denmark some seven years ago, visits from that country have increased between 400 and 500 percent.
The first and second year of the office, Eirby said 1,500 Danes visited the territory annually. In 1997, some 8,000 were making the 13-hour flight — and spending big bucks.
The average Danish stay, he said, is two weeks. That translates into 120,000 bed-nights a year. Factor in a $70 cost per person, per night, $50 dollars a day on food and another $50 on miscellaneous and that's $21 million the Danes are pumping into the economy a year.
Outside the visitors from the U.S., the Danish have replaced the Canadians as the largest tourist market to the territory.
Earlier this year, St. Croix merchants were looking forward to the arrival of hundreds of Danish tourists on charter flights every two weeks. The flights, however, fell through when disagreements arose between the Danish tour operator and the U.S. charter company.
Meanwhile, Turnbull has been in Denmark for about a week. He has met with Danish government officials in order to attain copies of West Indies archival records stored in Denmark. Most of the colonial archival materials are held by the Danes in the National Archives, known as Rigsarkivet.
Before leaving the country, Turnbull, a historian at heart, did some sightseeing in and around Århus, where he visited an antique book shop.
On his way back to Copenhagen, Turnbull visited the old sailing ship
Jylland. The wooden schooner, which has been restored and is now a museum, sailed in the Danish West Indies more than 100 years ago.
Turnbull's last night in Copenhagen will include a farewell dinner held by the Danish West Indian Society and its president, Per Nielsen, who is also a historian. Turnbull and Nielsen met several times at the Transfer Day arrangements earlier this year.

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