Who visits Denmark in summer and where do the tourists go?

The Local scoured data from Tourism Denmark to learn who it is asking for directions in Copenhagen and hogging beach space on Danish shores. 

Overwhelmingly, it's Danes that visit Denmark — two thirds of all overnight tourism in 2021 was from Danes spending their holidays in other parts of their own country. 

But as for foreign tourism, Denmark's neighbours to the south take the lion's share. Germans spent more than 13.2 million overnight visits in Denmark in 2021. 

Next up is the Netherlands, which sent more than 717,000 overnight guests to Denmark. Swedes and Norwegians spent 604,000 and 412,00 overnight stays in Denmark, respectively, while the UK and the US both contributed about 200,000 stays. 

Country of Origin	Overnight visitors to Denmark in 2021
1. Germany	13.2 million
2. The Netherlands	717,900
3. Sweden	604,000
4. Norway	412,600
5. The United Kingdom	208,900
6. United States	199,300
7. France	164,100
8. Italy	161,500
9. India	18,100
10. China	14,500

Where do they spend the night? 

Forty-two percent of all tourists, including Danes, spent their vacations in rented holiday homes, while 23 percent camped outside. Only 23 percent of all overnight stays in Denmark were in hotels — holiday centers, hostels, and marinas round out the rest. 

READ MORE: Summer houses in Denmark: What are the rules and when can you live in them?

Beaches beat the cities 

A whopping 80 percent of overnight stays were for coastal and nature tourism — that's the summer house culture for you — while only 11 percent was tourism to big cities. Business tourism accounted for the last 9 percent. 

Favourite destinations by country 

German tourists flocked to a region called Vesterhavet (literally 'the western sea' in Danish), spending 5 million overnight stays there in 2021. The distant second and third favorite destinations for holiday-making Germans in Denmark were Nordvestkysten ('the north west coast,' which saw 2.3 million overnight stays) and Southern Jutland with 1.6 million. 

As far as the US is concerned, Denmark might as well be a city-state — 77 percent of American visitors stayed in Denmark's capital city, while 63 percent of UK tourists and nearly half of all visits from Swedes were to Copenhagen. 

Norwegians have a broader palate for Denmark's diverse charms, with about a third staying in Copenhagen and the other two thirds spread across the Danish islands and beaches.