Three Danish municipalities accounted for a third of last year's tourist overnight stays

Denmark experienced a record-breaking year for tourism in 2025, with nearly 66 million overnight stays recorded across the country. A significant portion of this tourism, one-third of the total, was concentrated in just three municipalities: Copenhagen, Varde, and Ringkøbing-Skjern.

Copenhagen, the nation's primary tourist magnet, saw a substantial increase in overnight stays, rising from 8.9 million in 2019 to 11.9 million last year. This represents a 34 percent growth over six years. Tourism researcher Matias Thuen Jørgensen from Roskilde University highlighted this as a remarkable increase in a short period, attributing it to a significant expansion of hotel capacity in the capital and a boom in Airbnb listings.

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It is a big increase in a relatively short time.

In Varde Municipality, tourist overnight stays reached 5.5 million in 2025, while Ringkøbing-Skjern recorded 5.1 million. These figures show an 18 percent and 28 percent increase, respectively, compared to 2019. Jørgensen noted that the overall rise in Danish tourism is partly due to a global increase in international travel and a growing trend among tourists to explore new destinations.

Denmark's appeal, according to Jørgensen, lies in its lifestyle, gastronomy, and coastlines. He anticipates that tourism in Denmark will continue its upward trajectory in the coming years. The top five most visited municipalities last year were Copenhagen, Varde, Ringkøbing-Skjern, Tønder, and Bornholm.

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Therefore, we also get a larger share. At the same time, it has become a trend among tourists to visit places they have not been to before.