Hygge season

Safe and familiar yet delightfully kitsch, Denmark presents an aspirational foreign identity of the Nordic block to visitors from across the globe.

Despite the often dreary weather, it is consistently ranked as the happiest nation in the world by multiple surveys. This destination is a hotspot for Europeans looking for a city break away from their hectic, daily lives and offers an escape into a world filled with Nordic cuisine, contemporary design and bicycles around every corner.

Working off the idea of Copenhagen as an ideal city break destination, Danish furniture design brand BoConcept has teamed up with Denmark’s official tourism organisation, VisitDenmark, this Christmas season to offer potential visitors the chance to explore the Danish concept of hygge in the heart of Copenhagen.

VisitDenmark intends to create awareness and attract travellers to Copenhagen, allowing them to be immersed in a culture known for its cosy lifestyle. It will also give tourists the opportunity to understand why Denmark is constantly branded as the world’s happiest nation. The main reasons visitors cite for travelling to Copenhagen include wanting to experience the history and culture in an ‘interesting’ and livable city.

With the rise of the Millennial lifestyle and popularity of Airbnb in Denmark, which now has more listings than Sweden and Norway together, its primary target audience has shifted from families to pleasure-seekers: young couples, adult couples or friends travelling as a group without children. The campaign video features a young couple enjoying the little pleasures in Copenhagen, similar to that of American couple Ann and Bill in VisitDenmark’s prior social media tourism campaign.

Hygge, pronounced ‘hoo-ga,’ is used to describe something cosy, pleasant and comfortable. According to VisitDenmark’s website, hygge is about ‘creating a nice, warm atmosphere and enjoying the good things in life with good people around you.’ The high season of hygge is Christmas, which is when residents of Denmark fight the long, dark winters with festivity and good cheer at venues such as the Tivoli Gardens.

Anja Hartung Sfyrla, manager of business development at VisitDenmark, says, “Vesterbro is cool and raw, but also atmospheric and intimate. Depicting a day in Vesterbro on film will strengthen the narrative of Denmark as a destination for city tourists in an authentic way, zooming in on the local environment, which is what many tourists want to experience when they travel. We are therefore pleased to be able to team up with BoConcept yet again, in a campaign based in the city and BoConcept's aim of creating urban Danish design.”

For BoConcept, the campaign will give travellers the opportunity to ‘experience urban Danish design where it all began.’ Founded in 1952, the company now has more than 260 stores in 64 countries from which people all over the world can bring furnished pieces of hygge into their homes.

The winner of the competition will win a five-night stay for two in the only room at the Central Hotel, claimed to be the world’s smallest hotel at 12 square meters in the trendy area of Vesterbro, Copenhagen.