VisitBritain has decided to consolidate all activities in Scandinavia in Stockholm and shut down in Copenhagen and Oslo. This means that two employees in Copenhagen are fired while a GSA in Oslo no longer has the task of selling the UK.
A Danish-speaking and a Norwegian-speaking staff will be recruited in Stockholm. When the Stockholm office will function is still unknown, but the former England director of tourism in Denmark, Jette Ward, is fired from 30 May.
“As of 30th May 2016, VisitBritain will create a central hub in Stockholm to manage and deliver activity across the Nordic region. This is part of a global strategic decision to concentrate resources by building bigger, flexible teams in hubs to boost activity in core markets including Denmark & Norway.
It is with great sadness that Jette Ward M.B.E. will leave VisitBritain on the 30th May after 45 years with the tourist board,” says Gary Robson, VisitBritain, Regional Manager Nordics & Russia, Stockholm.
“VisitBritain has changed its way of working in Europe. We have moved away from single representative/market operations and towards bigger hubs covering multiple markets.
For example, we will no longer have single person representation in Poland, Belgium, Denmark & Norway, instead we shall have a strengthened presence in Amsterdam, Paris, Berlin and Stockholm, to cover these markets. Naturally, Denmark & Norway will be covered from Stockholm.
This is a change in approach, because we felt we were spread too thinly and our revised structure will enable us to work together in bigger teams on projects and deliver more activity. In short, we feel there will be a lot of synergies.
We intend to step up our local language delivery of consumer content in Denmark, Norway and Sweden, via our own website, social media channels and on third party platforms. In order to deliver this we will hire two new staff members, one Danish speaking & one Norwegian speaking, both will be located in Stockholm. They will be responsible for consumer content but also the important task of assisting journalists from Denmark and Norway with enquiries.
Finland remains an interesting market for us and we are always reviewing which markets to be active in now (and to what level), and in the future. But in the context of finite resources, we have no plans for major activity in Finland but we are very happy to assist travel trade and journalists however we can.
In terms of working with the travel industry, we will have a dedicated B2B manager, located in Stockholm but with a remit to work with the travel industry in all key Nordic markets. This person will work closely with me, to ensure we maintain the excellent connectivity we currently enjoy with our colleagues in the Nordic travel industry.”
“Will it be easier for Danes, Swedes and Norwegians to call VisitBritain. Will it be more expensive?
“VisitBritain (and many other National Tourist Office’s) have not offered a telephone enquiry service for consumers for a number of years. Due to changes in demand (much fewer people calling) Consumer information has been focussed on web-based solutions since we closed our Nordic Contact Centre in 2010. The major change now is that once our new set up is in place, we will start to communicate in Danish, Norwegian and Swedish with consumers, rather than in English as it has been for a number of years. This applies both to the website and in social media,” says Gary Robson.
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