Sweden: Eurovision 2013 profitable for Malmö and Skane

by Sanjay (Sergio) Jiandani 1,759 views

SVT, the Swedish national broadcaster has published an article on their official website reporting how  Malmöand Skane profited from hosting the 2013 Eurovision Song Contest.

Indeed all eyes were set on the beautiful southern Swedish city of Malmo during the month of May. The 2013 Eurovision Song Contest was a massive window to showcase the city along with its culture, music and heritage to the world. Both Malmo and Skane received mediatic exposure and attention, thus many people who did not know where Malmo is, now know it exists and where it’s located.

 Malmo Central Station  decorated with Eurovision logo and motifs.

The Eurovision brought delegations, singers, tourists, Eurovision fans and all the fun the contest entails to Malmo. During the Eurovision weeks Malmo was hustling and bustling with fans, delegations, singers and visitors who had flown in specially for the occasion. Malmo truly embraced the contest and pampared delegations, journalists and fans in true Swedish style! The city dressed up for the event, with billboards, logos and banners all over the city.

Many Eurovision events, concerts and social events took place in the city simultaneously throughout the 2 Eurovision weeks offering great entertainment for everyone bringing everyone together! The Eurovillage, The Euroclub at Slaghauset, Moriskan Pavillion, The Eurocafe, Wonk were the hottest spots in the city.

Skåne and especially Malmö excelled and triumphed  by hosting the Eurovision Song Contest last spring.  Last Friday, the Skane Region  and Malmö City released the estimates and figures which were  presented by Almedalsveckan.

 For Scania, this has been  an opportunity to create jobs and growth in the region. We received a lot of positive feedback in the media when it came to showing off Skåne and Malmö as an attractive city for events-  Ingrid Bengtsson Rijavec, the Acting Regional Director for Region Skåne has added.

Large PR value

Malmö and Skåne invested nearly 28 million Swedish Kronor for the Eurovision Song Contest, in addition to SVT’s budget of about 125 million Swedish Kronor. Hence after evaluating and calculating the costs and expenses, the results show  a great profit, showcasing an  increase in tourism revenues in Malmö and  in the Skåne region of 185 million Swedish Kronor.

We  must note that the PR value was great and will have a positive effect both on Malmo and Sweden in the long term. For Sweden this event is worthy of  an estimated 1.1 billion Swedish Kronor, when speaking about the PR value the country gained after the event. It was good for Sweden, and surely it was  best for Malmö.

Good long-term

Johan Hermansson, the director for the city of Malmö’s Tourism Dept, doesn’t  believe that the positive effect of Malmö is short. On the contrary, he believes.

Yes, we can probably be pretty sure that the 2013 Eurovision Song Contest will  be good for Malmö in the long term. The image  we have been able to project to Europe and the world  has been very positive, and we have already seen that the demand has increased when it comes to meetings and travel to our region and city, says Hermansson.

A total of 48,100 tourists, 1700 journalists attended the Eurovision Song Contest in Malmo.

Stay tuned to esctoday.com for more information on the Eurovision Song Contest.