Last week, the Danish Minister of Finance, Claus Hjort Frederiksen, the Danish government and its allies agreed on the State Budget for 2011.
With the 2011-agreement, political support was secured to increase the competitiveness of the Danish tourism industry. In relation to the Danish meetings industry, the corporate world will in future be able to recover 50 % VAT paid on accommodation, courses and conferences held in Denmark (compared to 25 % hitherto).
As expected, the news were warmly welcomed by the Danish tourism industry. The agreement is believed to increase the competitiveness of the Danish meetings industry significantly and immediately lower net prices on hotel accommodation, courses and conferences in Denmark by an estimated 5.3%.
Mr. Henrik Kahn, Director of International Business Tourism at VisitDenmark, comments:
“This is good news for the Danish Business Tourism Industry. Not only do we now offer a unique MEETOVATION concept to the International Buyers and Meeting Planners – a new concept that focuses on achieving a high “Return on Meetings Investment” (RoMI) – but we can COMBINE this with a much stronger competitive edge when it comes to the actual pricing of our services. We all know, that pricing is stil a key factor when deciding where to stage a business event, and we are confident that with two very strong cards on our hands, Denmark will be able to attract even more meetings, conferences etc to the destination.”
The 2011 state budget was prepared by the Danish Liberal/conservative government in cooperation with the Danish People’s Party and the Danish Christian Democrats.
