Skåne Takes Off As Events Region
The Handball World Championship, new arenas and conference facilities, and a new events company are raising the temperature in a region that is already hot.
MD Pehr Palm is convinced that an official events company is required in Skåne:
“We have a fantastic position to start from now. 3.6 million people living within a one-hour travelling distance, improved communications with the largest airport in Scandinavia and several new arenas provide us with opportunities to attract to Skåne events that have not been possible before. The new multi-event arenas in Helsingborg, Lund, Kristianstad, Malmö and Ängelholm, Malmö and Lund
Congress Centres, Malmö’s new stadium and the PGA golf course in Bara will put us on the map as an events location for Sweden. We are competing with Copenhagen, but we will also be collaborating on applications for major international events. Along with Gothenburg and Stockholm, we will be generating more professional ventures for Sweden,” says MD of Event in Skåne, Pehr Palm.
Skåne has several interesting events to look forward to, including the World Scout Jamboree with 40,000 participants, the Under-21 European Championship in football, the World Championships in ice hockey and handball. Strategically, Skåne has been driving the application for the Handball World Championship together with the Swedish Handball Association. Half of the matches – including the final – are being held in Skåne, involving preliminary sales of up to 300,000 tickets.
As a result of all of these upcoming events, hotels are being built en masse in Skåne. The hotel boom is noticeable mainly in the Malmö region in which more than ten new hotels are currently being built. Most hotels are large-scale facilities with more than 200 rooms. In total, 2,645 rooms will be added in the Malmö region by 2012, a doubling of current capacity.
Facts about the new arenas in Skåne
• Färs och Frosta Sparbank Arena, Lund. Multi-event arena with a focus on handball and events of different types. Home ground for the H43 and Lugi teams. Spectator capacity 3,000 for matches and 4,000 for concerts. Opened in September 2008.
• Malmö Arena. Sweden’s most modern multi-event arena with a focus on ice hockey and events of different types. Home ground for the Malmö Redhawks ice hockey team. Spectator capacity 15,000. Opened in November 2008.
• Swedbank Stadium in Malmö. Football arena and home ground for the Malmö FF football team. Spectator capacity 24,000. Ready in 2009.
• Kristianstad Arena. Multi-event arena with a focus on handball and events of different types. Home ground for the IFK Kristianstad handball team. Spectator capacity 4,600. Ready in 2010.
• Helsingborg Arena. Multi-event arena with a focus on handball, other sports and events of different types. Home ground for the Olympic/Viking handball team, among others. Spectator capacity 6,000. Ready in 2011.
Facts about new hotel and conference facilities in Skåne
• In 2009, the PGA/Holiday Club will be opening a golf resort in Bara municipality just outside Malmö’s municipal boundary. The resort will include 250 rooms, conference facilities and spas.
• In February 2009, StayAt is opening a new facility in Malmö with 240 rooms.
• Mariott is opening a luxury hotel in 2009 in the old Saluhallen market hall in Malmö. 115 rooms
• New exhibition facilities at the junction of the E6 and E22 highways at Burlöv. The hotel is planned to have 700 rooms, with exhibition facilities for up to 10,000 delegates. Ready 2010.
• Rezidor is planning to open a hotel at the World Trade Center at Västra Hamnen in Malmö. Ready in 2010 with 220 rooms
• Choice is planning a 20,000 m2 spa facility at Brofästet in Malmö. 250 rooms. Ready 2011.
• Percy Nilsson is planning a major hotel in the vicinity of the Malmö Arena. Ready in 2011 with 250 rooms
For more info on Event in Skåne, see www.skane.com/event.