Travel and tourism in Denmark - statistics & facts
Denmark is the most popular tourism destination spot among the Nordic countries, despite being the smallest country in Scandinavia. In 2023, almost half of the inbound tourists in these countries stayed in Denmark. From picturesque waterfronts, with colorful townhouses lining the sidewalks that reflect into the water, to shifting northern dunes and to the colliding sea, Denmark has much to offer in terms of natural beauty. The country consists of the Jutland peninsula and a myriad of islands, which also includes Greenland and the Faroe Islands, that stretch from the immediate border of Germany to the bridges interconnecting the Danish realm to the mainland of Sweden. Throughout 2023, there were 63 million inbound overnight stays, with more than half of those being international tourists.
Denmark is a popular destination to travel to, with many beautiful sights and attractions. Neighboring countries consist of most of the inbound tourists. Danes themselves preferred sunny beach vacations, with Spain as the main destination. It is forecast that the revenue for camping holidays will decrease, and vacation and hotels will increase over time to 2028.
What is popular in the Danish tourism market?
From the Roskilde festival to Tivoli in Copenhagen, exploring Christiania, and spending time at Dyrhavsbakken, the oldest documented amusement park in the world, there are multitude of experiences to be had in Denmark. Tivoli had over 40 million visitors in 2023 and remains Denmark’s leading attraction spot. Tourists enjoy Danish nature by primarily renting holiday houses. Almost 17 million of all overnight stays were spent in holiday homes, compared to the 7.6 million spent in hotels. Camping was the third-most popular accommodation type, with 4.1 million campers in 2023. Out of those overnight stays in camping sites, Germans constituted 68.1 percent of those visitors. Overall, Germany was the highest inbound market to Denmark, with over 20 million overnight stays.Outbound tourism from Denmark: Danes abroad
Denmark’s population was well over 5.9 million in 2024, but the number of tourist departures were already over six million in 2022. This was a decrease from the pre-pandemic period when trips could amount to over nine million departures. Hence, Danes made more trips than the number of people living in the country. The most popular tourism destination among Danes was Spain, with 18 percent of all holidays taking place there in 2023. The second-most preferred location was Italy, followed by Greece. Leisure trips were overwhelmingly taken for beach vacations, with 81 percent of overnight stays conducted in 2023.Denmark is a popular destination to travel to, with many beautiful sights and attractions. Neighboring countries consist of most of the inbound tourists. Danes themselves preferred sunny beach vacations, with Spain as the main destination. It is forecast that the revenue for camping holidays will decrease, and vacation and hotels will increase over time to 2028.
