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Göteborg & Co

2008

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CONTENTS

For the people of Göteborg

Göran Johansson and Gunnel Aho 4

We can if we really want to

Claes Bjerkne 6

Participation culture in Göteborg 14

World Championship City 18

Conference City 24

City of Events 28

City of Sports 32

City of Culture 34

City of Learning 36

City of Entertainment 38

Christmas City 40

The Green City 42

City of Tourism 46

City of Shopping 50

City of Food 52

City of Industry 54

The Virtual City 58

The International City 60

City of Partnerships 62

The Göteborg brand 66

Names and faces 68

This is how we work 72

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Göran Johansson, Chairman

(Social Democrat)

We have made tourism a recognised industry

“Before Göteborg & Co was formed, about

twenty years ago, tourism in the city was

handled by several different organisa-

tions: Göteborg Tourism Council, Goth-

enburg Region Promotion Office (GRPO),

PRO Göteborg and Westway Sweden. The

Göteborg Region Association of Local

Auth orities (GR) and the West Sweden

Chamber of Commerce also played active

roles in promoting tourism. The relation-

ships between stakeholders in the visitor

market were mostly competitive in nature.

When we appointed Claes Bjerkne to

manage this area he brought together

all the different players under Göteborg

& Co. At the same time, industry was

brought in as a co-owner and working

partner. It was not obvious at the time,

but it turned out that this was exactly the

right route to take. Very soon, the stake-

holders began talking to each other as

collaborative partners.

We also coined the term the Thorough-

fare of Events. The thoroughfare had ex-

isted previously, of course, but giving it a

name opened up completely new oppor-

tunities.

When Göteborg & Co came on the

scene, tourism was not seen as an indus-

try in its own right. It was regarded more

as an aspect of leisure, not an opportunity

for employment, for real jobs. This is pos-

sibly the most important thing we have

achieved: breaking down the old view of

tourism and seeing tourism instead as

a rapidly growing industry. One good ex-

ample was the World Athletics Champion-

ships in 1995. When you see the whole

picture you realise what great business

this meant for the city.

It is also important to consider the

whole picture from the visitor’s perspec-

tive. Experiences are not just created by

visiting impressive or interesting buil dings;

they are also about the people and the

atmosphere. During the European Athlet-

ics Championships, the competitors,

leaders, organisers, media representa-

tives and everyone else who came here

really felt that they were looked after in a

totally different way than they had been

treated elsewhere. During the World Fig-

ure Skating Championships the organisers

found an events organisation that took

care of every detail. Everyone was happy.

For the people of Göteborg

Over the years, Göteborg & Co has de-

veloped into an organisation with impress-

ive scope. Its activities have expanded

and product development has continued.

Collaboration with hotels, restaurants and

other stakeholders has steadily deepen ed.

This collaboration is a real strength.

The fact that Göteborg & Co works for

the people of Göteborg is especially re-

flected in the many job opportunities crea-

ted by the tourism industry and the tax

revenues brought in by these activities.

I would also like to mention the value

of the tourism sector in creating job op-

portunities for people who come from

other countries. In this respect, experi-

ence of other cultures will benefit both

individuals and Göteborg as a whole.”

Gunnel Aho, Vice Chairman (Moderate)

Important to nurture enterprise

“What I remember most of all in 2008 is

the World Figure Skating Championships.

It was a wonderful experience and a great

event to bring to Göteborg.

I’m also impressed by the fact that

Göteborg & Co maintains such a high

standard at all the recurring events. That

really takes special people who don’t get

stuck in a routine and are able to keep on

improving these events.

One example is the Göteborg City Fes-

tival, which became the Göteborg Culture

Festival, and still maintains its popular-

ity. Some residents of Göteborg even take

time off especially so they can really enjoy

this local festival.

A Göteborg Christmas is another fine

event that keeps on improving every year.

This demonstrates that Göteborg & Co

stands for optimism and confidence in the

future, which is a valuable thing in times

such as these.

With growing competition it is vital to

lead the way, as expressed in the goals of

our business plan. The platform for col lab-

oration can be further improved.

When people are replaced in an or-

ganisation it is important to clearly state

your goal – to nurture our heritage of en-

terprise. At the same time it is good to see

fresh ideas.

Göteborg & Co has been successful as

a result of its innovation, energy, and its

constant drive to be ahead of the field.

I look forward to the future of this or-

ganisation, which is so important for the

city and the region!”

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Tourism in Göteborg succeeded in showing growth for the 17th year in succession, despite the global credit crunch and recession. A strong start to last year meant that the tourism and visitor industry was able to grow slightly. There was a record number of overnight stays, just over 3.2 million, at our hotels and youth hostels. Visitors spent around SEK 23 billion, and as a result the industry was able to create almost 17,000 man-years of employment in the Göteborg region.

A great year for events and congressesOver the past year, Göteborg has taken

pride in the continued growth of a number

of our many successful annual events,

as well as several big new public events.

The presentation of the Göteborg Award

for Sustainable Development to Al Gore,

former US vice president, during the “Liv-

ing Planet” gala was a very memorable

occasion. The World Figure Skating Cham-

pionships, with a television audience of

around 350 million, was also a truly suc-

cessful event, followed by the Göteborg

Horse Show and the annual conference

of the World Association of Newspapers

(WAN). This was the first time that the

world’s newspaper owners had held their

big world conference in Göteborg and

Scandinavia. Another highpoint was the

two concerts given by Bruce Springsteen

at Ullevi stadium.

A further asset that is much appre-

ciated by the people of Göteborg and by

vis itors is what is sometimes known as

green Göteborg, consisting of several

central parks and green areas.

It was this green asset that formed

the backdrop for the big garden exhibition

of 2008 – Gardens of Göteborg – which

lasted a full three months. Together, Göte-

borg Botanical Garden, the Garden Soci-

ety of Göteborg, Liseberg Garden and

Gunnebo House & Gardens created a

splendid horticultural event for the people

of Göteborg and for visitors.

Good progress was made during the

We can if we want to

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year on the construction of the new Gamla

Ullevi arena, a welcome and long-awaited

addition for all football fans. Gamla Ullevi

will open in spring 2009.

The Swedish Society of Medicine

celebrated its second centenary and held

its national conference in Göteborg in

autumn, while the meeting of the Euro-

pean Society for Therapeutic Radiology &

Oncology (ESTRO) was one of the biggest

international congresses to take place in

Göteborg in 2008, with 4,500 delegates

attending. You can read more about these

events and many others that took place in

2008 in the annual report. Looking ahead

to 2009, this could be the best year ever

for concerts in Göteborg. Madonna is

coming, AC/DC is coming, and the Scan-

dinavium is hosting a string of concerts,

including one by Beyoncé. We also have

Way Out West, Metaltown and the tradi-

tional outdoor concert with Göteborg

Symphony Orchestra.

Local and national collaboration When the economy in general shows little

growth, we have always managed to per-

form relatively well in Göteborg when it

comes to the tourism and visitor indus-

try. The underlying reason is our ability

to work together. The Göteborg spirit has

helped us stay together and jointly drive

forward the development and marketing

of Göteborg in a successful way.

Many destinations and organisations

cut back on their activities when the econ-

omy takes a downward turn, so they tend

to have a short-term focus on activities. If

we can now manage to keep our cool and

maintain our tempo, while working

together on proactive marketing strat-

egies, then we can take market share and

come out of the recession even stronger.

The economic crisis will affect us ...There are many indications right now that

2009 will be a hard year for the tourism

and visitor industry around the world. As

yet, there are no clear signs of economic

recovery, and in Sweden many sectors of

manufacturing and industry have posted

gloomy forecasts for the next few years.

This will have a big impact on “tradi tional”

business travel. Because the effects are

so wide reaching, and western Sweden will

be hit particularly hard – not least the car

industry and its subcontractors

– it will also have negative consequences

for Göteborg as a destination.

... but also bring opportunities For Swedish tourism, the biggest oppor-

tun ity lies in focusing the efforts of the big

players in the Swedish travel and tourism

industry. I’m referring to the metro politan

regions of Stockholm, Göteborg and Mal-

mö, as well as Åre/Östersund, the LFV

Group, the big carriers, the Swedish

Hotel and Restaurant Association (SHR),

the Swedish Camping Site Owners’ Associ-

ation (SCR) and VisitSweden.

With the benefits of more effective

marketing and the current weakness of

the Swedish krona there are opportunities

to positively influence overnight stays by

Swedes and foreign visitors during events,

conferences and private travel. It is likely

that a growing number of Swedes will con-

sider holidaying at home this year. In our

closer foreign markets – Norway, Denmark

and Finland – there is reason for some op-

timism concerning growth in 2009.

We have a very strong Swedish tour-

ism product that offers high quality to the

international market. This product is un-

fortunately still relatively unknown.

We can if we want to

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Beyond Scandinavia, our marketing

efforts should therefore be focused on

selected European metropolitan regions

with direct links to our Swedish metro-

politan regions.

Göteborg and the Västra Göta-land region will grow Göteborg and the Västra Götaland re-

gion are increasingly working together to

achieve sustainable, long-term growth.

It is important to build an overall picture

of how our city and our region as a whole

can develop positively.

Some important requirements are to:

1. Increase the population of our region

to at least 1.5 million within a com-

muting range of one hour in order to

create a sufficiently large base for in-

dustry and employment opportunities.

One of the ways we can achieve this is

by improving communications between

the large, population-dense parts of

our region.

2. Provide improved access to and from

our region, with more flights, train ser-

vices and ferry links.

3. Develop the heart of the city.

4. Make the city and the region even more

attractive, and encourage the pooling

of efforts to promote the “Göteborg”

brand as a destination.

5. Everything that is done must have the

interests of the people of Göteborg and

western Sweden in mind.

Few other metropolitan regions in Europe

have such large areas of land in the heart

of the city as Göteborg. This provides

unique opportunities to develop the city

in a way that is both architecturally stri-

king and has a great deal to offer visitors,

while also enhancing Göteborg’s ability to

compete internationally. This could con-

tribute considerably in making Göteborg

and Västra Götaland an even more attrac-

tive metropolitan region for people to live

in, work in or visit.

Tourism enhances quality of life and creates jobs

Investments in tourism, in which events

and conferences play a very important

part, are ultimately intended to improve

the quality of life of people who live and

work in our region. Tourism contributes to

this in several different ways.

It helps to build bridges between

people of different ethnic backgrounds. It

creates a wider selection of culture, enter-

tainment and sports, restaurants, cafés,

destinations for excursions, business, etc.

Tourism generates revenue for many

companies and creates new job oppor-

tunities.

Stiffening global competition today

means that many jobs in traditional manu-

facturing industry are shifting to low-

wage countries, with the result that many

people see the service sector as our new

motor for growth.

Tourism gives society large tax rev-

enues and thus helps to finance the public

sector. Tourism also creates a basis for

developing a bigger and more attractive

infrastructure in Göteborg and the Väst ra

Götaland region. Like other industries,

tourism requires employees with aca-

demic training. However, tourism also

needs a large number of people with diffe-

rent types of practical expertise. This can

range from a variety of different duties in

the service sector in hotels, restaurants,

the retail trade, transport, conferences,

events, tour operation, guiding, building,

and in sports, culture and entertainment.

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Tourism can give many people the

chance to get into the employment market.

As Sweden increases its tourism exports it

will need a growing number of people who

can speak different languages and under-

stand the needs of visitors from other cul-

tures. More than 1.5 million Swedes have

roots in different cultures, and many of

them naturally stay in touch with friends

and family in the countries from which they

and their families originally came. This is

an area where Sweden has a potential that

could strengthen our international attrac-

tion as a tourism desti nation.

More long-term actionThe ambition of Göteborg and the Västra

Götaland region is to help make the region

even more attractive, and thus contribute

to the continued growth and development

of the tourism and visitor industry.

However, growth can never be taken for

granted, but is generated through invest-

ment and committed, long-term eff orts.

In this age of globalisation in which we

live, competition is greater than ever and

will continue to increase.

A growing number of cities and regions

in the world around us have realised the

importance of tourism for growth and

employment. The investments now be-

ing made in new infrastructure, in trans-

port and new venues, are greater than we

have ever seen before, not just in China,

but also much closer to home.

Tourism is seen by many commenta-

tors as a means of leveraging the service

sector, and a strategic approach that can

promote the development of entire re-

gions. Göteborg and the Västra Götaland

region will require large investments in in-

frastructure within the near future. This is

of the greatest importance for the devel-

opment of our region.

Events that strengthen our brandSince the start of the 1990s Göteborg

has worked actively on a long-term, pro-

fessional strategy for the development of

tourism and the visitor industry, as a vital

link in the overall development of Göte-

borg and the Västra Götaland region.

Events have been one of the sup-

porting elements of this work. Initiat-

ives in culture, entertainment and sports

can play a vital role in making our region

even more attractive, as well as helping to

strengthen the Göteborg brand and gene-

rating more growth.

To create an influx of capital and in-

vestment that will safeguard future

growth, and in the longer term good eco-

nomic conditions and quality of life for

people, a growing number of leading met-

ropolitan regions in the western world are

taking steps to clearly define their brands.

Using powerful international marketing

that focuses on their unique character

and cultural values, they are attempting

to establish a clear identity. In doing so,

the metropolitan regions are becoming

brands, and their content is the main key

to future growth.

Investors often choose to invest in a

region whose brand and culture matches

the values of their own company. Finding

a unique identity and communicating this

effectively to the outside world is a recipe

for success. One aspect of this process

that has become globally important is in-

vestment in big international events that

can serve as catalysts for growth and

platforms for communication.

Successful in our categoryGöteborg and the Västra Götaland region

are small players in a global context. Our

Big cities are committed to eventsHere are some examples:

London Olympic Games 2012

Paris Bid for Olympic Games 2012 World Athletics Championships 2003 Football World Cup 1998

Milan World Expo 2015

Madrid Bid for Olympic Games 2016

Beijing Olympic Games 2008

Shanghai World Expo 2010

Tokyo Bid for Olympic Games 2016 World Figure Skating Championships 2007

Sydney Olympic Games 2000

Moscow World Athletics Championships 2013 World Figure Skating Championships 2005

Berlin World Athletics Championships 2009 Football World Cup 2006

Johannesburg Football World Cup 2010

Rio de Janeiro Bid for Olympic Games 2016

Barcelona European Athletics Championships 2010

Vancouver Winter Olympics 2010

Los Angeles World Figure Skating Championships 2009

Chicago Bid for Olympic Games 2016

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requirements differ from those of the big-

gest metropolitan regions. Nevertheless,

we have relatively good opportunities to

succeed, thanks to our well-developed

cultural organisations and leisure associ-

ations, our successful tradition of org-

anising events and a strong Swedish

sports fraternity, combined with our well-

estab lished partnerships with Swedish

trade and industry.

As an events city, Göteborg is a world-

class player. The fact that everything in

Göteborg is within such easy reach, with

arenas and hotels centrally located within

walking distance, combined with well-

developed partnerships between trade

and industry and the public sector, gives

us a very strong competitive edge.

The fact that Göteborg and Sweden

were entrusted to arrange events such

as the UEFA Football Championships in

1992, World Handball Championships in

1993, World Athletics Championships in

1995, World Table Tennis Championships

in 1997, World Gymnaestrada in 1998,

the EU Summit in 2001, Volvo Ocean

Race in 2002 and 2006, World Ice Hock-

ey Championships in 2002, European

Handball Championships in 2003, Euro-

pean Athletics Championships in 2006

and World Figure Skating Championships

in 2008, sends its own clear message.

Maintaining and improving this pos-

ition, and fully exploiting events as a

fundamental part of the development of

Göteborg and the Västra Götaland region,

is one of the biggest opportunities we

have to be successful in the global com-

petition for investment, capital growth

and creating a better quality of life.

Brand is key to growthOffering good products is not enough to

guarantee success today. It is also essen-

tial to inform the market about what you

are offering. Without this knowledge there

is no attraction. Through Göteborg & Co,

the city has been working for several

years to develop a brand platform for

Göteborg as a destination.

The essence of Göteborg – a distillate

that captures the image of the destination

– is “Attractive and inspiring experiences

with a human touch”. The chosen core val-

ues that the city aims to communicate are

empathy, inspiration and pluralism. Really

successful brands generate positive asso-

ciations – a brand should make you smile!

Investments in venues generate long-term growth Massive investments are being made

in the world around us right now. New

events venues are being built in Sweden

and all over northern Europe. Any metro-

politan region that wants to keep up with

development has to be able to offer a

wide range of experiences and events of

diverse types. If a metropolitan region

does not invest sufficiently, its develop-

ment will stagnate. In practice this will

make it less able to compete with the re-

gions around it. This is no new phenom-

enon, but it probably happens much fas-

ter today.

We can often learn a great deal from

history. Investments in this type of pro-

ject are not, and have never been, simple

matt ers. The big international Göteborg

Expo that was held in connection with

the city’s 300th anniversary (in 1923 as

a result of delays) was preceded by leng-

thy debate. The expo resulted in a signifi-

cant net cost for the city, by the standards

of the day. However, it also provided the

starting impetus for projects such as

Liseberg amusement park, Götaplatsen

and its cultural institutions, the Swedish

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Exhibition Centre, Slottsskogsvallen,

Göteborg Botanical Garden, Göteborg’s

first international airport and major invest-

ments in public transport, particularly the

tram system. Can anyone today imagine

Göteborg with out all this? There was also

heated debate before the decision was

finally reached to build Nya Ullevi stadium

in 1958. It was by no means clear that the

investment would get the go-ahead at the

time. The result was the biggest and most

modern outdoor arena in Scandinavia.

Ullevi and the Swedish Exhibition Cen-

tre, along with the Scandinavium, which

was built to mark the 350th anniversary

of Göteborg in 1971 and was the largest

and best-equipped indoor arena in Scan-

dinavia at the time, have all served as

cornerstones in the city’s efforts to devel-

op Göteborg as an international venue

for conferences and events. Götaplat-

sen is the cultural centre of Göteborg and

west Sweden. Liseberg amusement park

is one of the biggest tourist attractions

in northern Europe. Göteborg Botanical

Garden, along with Slottsskogen, the Gar-

den Society of Göteborg, Gunnebo House

& Gardens and many other green areas,

make Göteborg one of the greenest cities

in Europe.

Now that we can see these invest-

ments with the benefit of hindsight, most

people realise that these projects have

paid for themselves many times over and

have now become invaluable and much

valued assets to the people of Göteborg

and western Sweden. Big international

events often have an ability, shared by

few other projects, to foster a sense of

community and a shared vision, to att-

ract capital and publicity, and to promote

growth and confidence in the future.

Need for investments in events venuesGöteborg has had major successes as a

city for tourism and events over the last

20 years. One clear requirement for this

success has been access to attractive,

modern and competitive events venues.

The largest venues of all, Ullevi and Scan-

dinavium, have served their purpose well

for very many years. Now, as everyone

knows, they are showing their age. This,

combined with the fact that new venues

are being built at a tremendous pace all

around us, means that Göteborg’s attrac-

tion and ability to compete is threatened.

Against this background it is essential

that we make major investment in our big

events venues as soon as possible.

For the people of GöteborgI have decided, not without some soul-

searching, to give up my role as CEO of

Göteborg & Co. For almost two decades I

have had the great privilege of being able

to work on the development of something

that is very close to my heart – my home

town of Göteborg.

It has been a fantastic journey in

many ways. Over this period, tourism in

our city has developed in a way that few

people thought was possible. We have ex-

perienced 17 years of unbroken growth.

Tourism turnover has risen from around

SEK 10 billion to SEK 23 billion today. The

travel and tourism industry now genera-

tes around 17,000 man-years of employ-

ment in the Göteborg region, and can jus-

tifiably be described as one of our most

important industrial sectors – especially

when we look to the future.

Today, we have a clear picture of how

we can work together to develop Göte-

borg as an events city, something that

many other cities are exploring. In relation

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to our size, there is hardly any other city

that has hosted so many big, international

events over the last two decades or so.

Our many big and successful annual

events are a unique asset that we must

look after and continue to develop.

The Conference City Göteborg has again

experienced very encouraging growth,

and the Swedish Exhibition Centre, with

its modern face and central location, is

the city’s crowning glory in this respect.

The City of Culture and Entertainment

– with its theatres, dance events, music,

shows, concerts, opera, museums and ex-

hibitions – has seen very positive changes

since the early 1990s.

The City of Tourism, driven by Liseberg

amusement park and the west coast of

Sweden, continues to win market share

and has for many years had the highest

hotel room occupancy of all Swedish

metro politan regions.

City of Learning Göteborg now has the

largest city campus in Sweden and Scan-

dinavia, with around 60,000 students

who give the city a youthful outlook and

bring skills and energy to Göteborg.

City of Food Göteborg and Taste Göte borg

mean that we are now regarded as offer-

ing cuisine and restaurants of the highest

global standard. The list of achieve ments

in this sector is impressive.

In collaboration with many different

stakeholders we have had the privilege

of contributing in various respects to the

development of a host of exciting con-

cepts over the years. They include: Work

on the Göteborg brand and collabora-

tion between the city and the region on

the GöteborgPlus project. The develop-

ment of goteborg.com which will become

an increasingly important element. The

Flights project, which in co-operation with

LFV and the Västra Götaland region has

increased accessibility through a large

number of new direct services, as well

as open ing up Göteborg and the west of

Sweden to growing European city break

travel. Our initiatives to promote skills and

research, which have led among other

things to the formation of the Tourism

Research Institute and the Centre for

Tourism at the School of Economics, are

examples of development in which we are

unique in our part of Europe.

The Christmas City and Christmas at

Liseberg, The Green City with our leafy

parks – celebrated over the past year in

Gardens of Göteborg – the Göteborg City

Festival which has now become Göteborg

Culture Festival, the International Sci-

ence Festival, Global Forum, the Center

for Intellectual Properties (CIP) Forum,

and much more.

International collaboration enriches us Göteborg & Co has for many years been

an active member of the European Cities

Marketing organisation, which counts

around 125 of Europe’s metropolitan

regions as members. This international

commitment has been a big asset in the

company’s efforts to develop and mar-

ket Göteborg as a destination. Being able

to work in partnership with the biggest

Euro pean destinations, including Amster-

dam, Barcelona, Berlin, Lisbon, Paris and

Vienna, to develop skills and strategies in

metro politan tourism has been an invalu-

able source of inspiration for a long time. I

personally had the privilege, as president,

to manage European Cities Marketing for

several years.

One of the highpoints and most memo-

rable experiences was of course in 2007

when Göteborg & Co was voted “Europe’s

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top professional tourism organisation”,

especially since some of the leading

names in the European tourism industry

were on the jury.

Voluntary efforts are invaluableFor Göteborg, as a City of Events, those

events that are repeated each year play

a key role. Clubs, associations and volun-

tary organisations are often behind these,

and people from many different quarters

do a fantastic job.

It is impressive to see how events

such as the Gothia Cup, Partille Cup,

Göteborg Half Marathon, Göteborg Inter-

national Film Festival, Göteborg Horse

Show, the International Science Festi-

val, Göteborg Culture Festival, Way Out

West, Göteborg Book Fair, and A Göteborg

Christmas put their stamp on the whole

city, and to see how these events have

developed over the years.

Many of these important annual

events still have great potential to grow

and develop even further. Giving more

support and stimulation to these events is

a very important task for the future.

Committed politicians, committed industry

Like many others, I believe that the main

reason we have been able to achieve this

level of development is our ability to work

together. If you want to achieve your goals

you can never ease off or be completely

satisfied. In all my time as CEO we have

had strongly committed leading politici-

ans who, together with many top repres-

entatives of industry, have given us the

opportunity to build Göteborg & Co into

a successful company and platform for

collaboration. The keen interest of these

people in our issues, together with their

considerable know-how, has put the com-

pany in a position where we can really

contribute to the development of the city.

We can if we really want toWe are now in a position where we need

to use our overall picture of the situ-

ation to create the long-term conditions

for growth. It will soon be 2021, when

Göteborg celebrates its fourth centenary.

This is a unique occasion on which to

focus our efforts, and we must begin now.

We need to create shared visions of

how the city and the region can develop.

Working from these desired future scen-

arios, we need to make big investments

that will create the right opportunities and

become important assets for Göteborg

and the region as a whole over the next

50–100 years.

We will naturally not be able to see

the fruits of all these new investments

immedi ately. We can learn a lot from his-

tory in this respect, by looking back at the

city’s 300th anniversary and seeing what

happened then. It took a great deal of

courage and strong will to agree to what

were major investments at the time. It will

take courage, determination and strength

of action to make the decisions that are

needed now in the run-up to Göteborg’s

fourth centenary. By doing so, we will

be doing our duty and creating the right

conditions for future generations, for

our children, our grandchildren and their

children.

It is people that make the differenceI am incredibly grateful for having had the

privilege to work for so many years with

so many inspiring, talented people and

friends, to help make a great city and re-

A T T R A C T I V E A N D I N S P I R I N G E X P E R I E N C E S W I T H A H U M A N T O U C H

gion even better. I wholeheartedly wish

you every success with the important,

ongoing task of developing and marketing

Göteborg.

Last but not least, I would like to ex-

press my appreciation and respect for all

the people of Göteborg and their close

and positive relationship with their city.

The great love of the people of Göteborg

for their city has been an incredible asset

to this work over the years. We have seen

countless examples of how the people of

Göteborg play their part and get involved

in the development of the city. This willing-

ness and positive attitude that residents

of Göteborg have for their city are invalu-

able and must be safeguarded in future

efforts.

It is people that generate development

and confidence in the future.

Göteborg, January 2009

CLAES BJERKNE, CEO, GÖTEBORG & CO

14

January

2–5 Göteborg Ice Hockey Cup at six different ice rinks

3–6 Gothia Indoor Bandy Cup at several sports halls

10–13 Disney On Ice, Scandinavium

16–27/4 30 years of Gert Wingårdh, Röhsska Museum of Design and Decorative Arts

18 P3 Gold music awards, Lorensbergsteatern

22 ”Living Planet” environmental gala, Scandinavium 25–4/2 Göteborg International Film Festival Draken and other cinemas

25–10/5 Lena + Orup, Rondo

30 Samsung Athletics Gala, Scandinavium

February

2–10 Boat Show, Swedish Exhibition Centre 2–17/4 Macbeth, Göteborg Opera House

7–8/3 “Russian Roulette”, Göteborg City Theatre

8–9 Song Contest semi-final, Scandinavium

8 Reel Big fish, punk, Sticky Fingers

22 Passion for Food, Eriksbergshallen

22 Jonas Gardell, show Göteborg Concert Hall

March

6–26/4 The Little Shop of Horrors musical comedy

13–16 TUR Travel Fair 2008, Swedish Exhibition Centre

15 Swedish Indoor Athletics Championships Friidrottens Hus

18–23 World Figure Skating Championships 2008, Scandinavium

19 Swedish Junior Tennis Championships, GLTK

28–29 Scandinavian Salsa Congress

April

5–6 Swedish Cup, football, Heden

12 Håkan Hellström, Scandinavium

13 The Sound of Music, Scandinavium

14–20 International Science Festival

17 Football derby GAIS v. IFK, Ullevi

19 The Olympic Trot, Åby Trotting track

23–27 Göteborg Horse Show, Scandinavium

23–28 EuroHorse, horse fair, Swedish Exhibition Centre

26–12/10 Liseberg Amusement Park, summer season

15

May

1 Swedish Handball Champion- ships, Scandinavium

1–4 Göteborg Basketball Festival

17 Göteborg Half Marathon, Slottsskogen

22–16/6 Singin’ in the Rain, musical at Scandinavium

24 Swedish Grand Prix Speedway, Ullevi

29/1/6 HBT-GBG Festival, celebrating homosexual, bisexual and transgender culture

30–1/6 Hammarkullen Carnival, Hammarkulletorget

June

31–4 WAN World Newspapers Congress, Swedish Exhibition Centre

6 Göteborg Symphony Orchestra, outdoor concert, Slottsskogen

13–14 STCC – Göteborg City Race, at Frihamnspiren

14–15 Monster Jam, Ullevi

20 Midsummer celebrations, Slottsskogen, Nääs Castle etc

26 West Coast Riot, concert at Frihamnspiren

27–28 MetalTown, heavy metal concert at Frihamnspiren

30–6/7 World Junior Athletics Championships, Ullevi

28-28 Gardens of Göteborg, Garden Society of Gothenburg, Göteborg Botanical Garden, Liseberg Park, Gunnebo House & Gardens

July

30/6–6/7 Junior World Orienteering Championships

30/6–6/7 Match Cup Sweden, Marstrand

4–6 Partille Cup, handball

4–5 Bruce Springsteen & The E Street Band, Ullevi

13–19 Gothia Cup, youth soccer tournament at Heden, Ullevi, Kviberg

22–9/8 Mamma Mia, Scandinavium

26 Iron Maiden, Ullevi

Concerts featuring Lars Winnerbäck and Kent, Slottsskogsvallen

August

7–9 Way Out West, Slottsskogen

8–10 Göteborg Jazz Festival, city centre

12–17 Göteborg Culture Festival, city centre

15–24 Göteborg Dance & Theatre Festival

16 Tjörn Runt Yacht Race

20 Sweden v. France football, Ullevi

September

12 Super Cross, Ullevi

14–18 ESTRO annual meeting, Swedish Exhibition Centre

18–21 Göteborg Masters ladies golf, Lycke Golf Club

18 Student 08, Trädgår’n restaurant

25–28 Göteborg Book Fair, Swedish Exhibition Centre

16

September

12 Super Cross, Ullevi

14–18 ESTRO annual meeting, Swedish Exhibition Centre

18–21 Göteborg Masters ladies golf, Lycke Golf Club

18 Student 08, Trädgår’n restaurant

25–28 Göteborg Book Fair, Swedish Exhibition Centre

October

3–4 Ladies Night, Scandinavium

3–5 Keillers Park centenary celebrations

10 Kulturnatta, cultural events at various stages and arenas

10 Leonard Cohen, Scandinavium

18–14/3-09 Marry Poppins, Göteborg Opera House

23–25 High School Musical, Scandinavium

30 Kungsfenan, the Swedish Fish Award

November

13–20/12 Göteborg Symphony Orchestra, classical concerts, Göteborg Concert Hall

14–15 Dansdax ball, Scandinavium

14–23/12 A Göteborg Christmas, including Christmas at Liseberg

14–30/12 Christmas market in Nordstan

21 Miss Li, pop concert, Göteborg Concert Hall

26–28 Swedish Society of Medicine National Conference, Swedish Exhibition Centre

29–30 Swedish Cycle Cross Championships, Slottsskogen

December

Christmas markets, Haga, Gunnebo House & Gardens, Kronhusbodarna, Kungstorget, Konstepidemin

Christmas concerts, at Scandinavium, Liseberg Hall, Göteborg Cathedral and other churches

3 Cup draw ceremony for UEFA European U21, Swedish Exhibition Centre

12 Crowning of Göteborg’s Lucia

17 Whitesnake concert, Scandinavium

30 Eldsjälsgalan, celebration of inspiring individuals at Liseberg Hall

31 Göteborgs Posten New Year Fireworks, Frihamnen

17

Over the last two decades, a growing number of events of different types have been held

each year in Göteborg and the surrounding region, both local and international. In the

19 years that Göteborg & Co has been active, a culture of participation has developed,

bringing with it valuable new expertise and enterprise.

Entrepreneurs and people with drive and ideas have discovered that the possibilities

are here, growing local know-how has helped many projects on the road to success, and

the people of Göteborg and visitors to the region now know there is a great deal going on

in Göteborg – whenever they visit.

It is very rewarding to see how this calendar of events is enriching the experience of

Göteborg and the region, for residents and for visitors.

Unfold this page to get a taste of what happened in Göteborg and the surrounding area

in 2008 – events which together have helped make Göteborg even more empathic,

inspiring and pluralistic!

Participation culture in Göteborg

18 18

The World Championships were held in

close collaboration with the Swedish Fig-

ure Skating Association and city of Göte-

borg through Göteborg & Co and Got

Event. Göteborg worked hard with the

Swedish Figure Skating Association to

bring the 2008 World Championships

2008 to Göteborg, against stiff compet-

ition from Helsinki and London. In June

2004 Göteborg was appointed host city

by the International Skating Union (ISU).

Göteborg & Co supported the association

in its candidature and actively contributed

to the Sweden on Ice development project

that took place from 2004 to 2008.

OrganisationThe Swedish Figure Skating Association

organised the World Championships on

behalf of the ISU. Göteborg & Co was re-

sponsible for marketing the event. The

company was closely involved in VIP &

Hospitality activities and in the agree-

ments between the media partners.

Göteborg & Co also provided services to

the television companies and co-ordina-

ted various television matters, including

the running of the television centre.

Got Event, which manages the Scan-

dinavium, assisted with the preparations

and execution, as did Sveriges Television,

which was our host broadcaster.

The association, Göteborg & Co and

Got Event appointed a management group

made up of those with ultimate respons-

ibility from each organisation. Their task

was to co-ordinate and safeguard the

quality of the event. This group was led

by Claes Bjerkne, Chairman of Göteborg

& Co.

A perfect eventThe event was a public success. Göteborg

was marketed very effectively in conjunc-

tion with the championships, and a solid

foundation was laid for bringing similar

events to Göteborg in the future.

The championships had the best pos-

sible setting and competitors, and the

press and public enjoyed a very high

standard of service. The atmosphere in

the Scandinavium remained on a high

through out the week, and there was no

containing the spectators’ jubilation when

the skaters outdid each other. With Göte-

borg clearly visible from every camera

angle, there could hardly have been any

better exposure for the city’s brand.

The targeted ticket sales were achie-

ved by the start of 2008. In total, 78 per

cent of the available tickets were sold,

giving a total revenue of just over

SEK 21 million and exceeding the forecast

by SEK 5 million, or around 35 per cent.

The biggest sports event of the year

MarketingThe marketing of the World Champion-

ships was divided into two main cam-

paigns. Campaign 1 took place from

March to October 2007, and was intended

to build awareness of the event and pro-

mote sales of the ticket packages. Cam-

paign 2, which was aimed solely at pro-

moting ticket sales, ran from November

2007 to March 2008.

Advertising in the daily press. A compre-

hensive advertising campaign was run

in collaboration with our media partners:

Göteborgs-Posten, Bohusläningen,

TT/ELA and Hallandsposten. Individual

advertisements were placed in a num-

ber of newspapers. The event was also

advert ised as part of Göteborg & Co’s

destination marketing.

Television advertising. A television advert

was run on TV4 in November 2007 and in

the week prior to the start of the event,

on more than 500 occasions, 75 per cent

of which werw prime time. The television

advert reached a total of 6.2 million tele-

vision viewers.

PR. PR efforts focused on getting expo-

sure in monthly magazines, Sunday supp-

lements and studio reports, as well as

providing the daily press with information

for articles. A number of press conferen-

ces were also held. Reports were featured

G Ö T E B O R G – W O R L D C H A M P I O N S H I P C I T Y

Over a six-day period from 18 to 23

March, over 350 million television viewers

in 65 countries watched the World Figure

Skating Championships in Göteborg. The

World Championships were a great success

for Sweden, for the city of Göteborg and

for the Swedish Figure Skating Associa-

tion. Ticket sales exceeded all the highest

expectations. The Scandinavium was

almost filled every day of the champion-

ships, with a total of 83,500 spectators. We

achieved our goal of hosting the “world’s

most beautiful championships” and thus set

a new standard for forthcoming events.

1919

20

G O T E B O R G – W O R L D C H A M P I O N S H I P C I T Y

in a large number of weekly and monthly

magazines.

Outdoor advertising. A national campaign

and a local campaign were run in collab-

oration with media partner JCDecaux.

The event was advertised on illuminated

billboards in Göteborg, Borås, Stockholm

and Ullared, and during the event itself

on motorway message boards on the way

into Göteborg.

Web. A campaign website was set up as a

sub-page of goteborg.com in March 2007,

in conjunction with the World Champion-

ships in Tokyo and the release of the tick-

et packages. The purpose was to promote

ticket sales and strengthen the brand

of the Championships. By the end of the

event the website had received half a mil-

lion visitors.

Exhibitions and events. The event was

marketed at the TUR travel fair, at the

Norskt Reiseliv travel fair in Oslo and at

the European Figure Skating Champion-

ships in Zagreb. Over 30 events were held

at Landvetter Airport and during A Göte-

borg Christmas.

Mailshots. Mailshots were sent to fig­

ure skating clubs in Sweden and Europe,

Swed ish ice rinks, Swedish sports asso-

ciations, travel agents and bus compan-

ies, and to MiG (marketing association in

Göteborg).

Street decorationsIt was difficult for anyone to miss the

fact that the world championships were

about to take place in Göteborg. At the

start of March the streets of the city were

decorated with 650 banners. Decora-

tions were also put up at Landvetter Air-

port. A consistent, but subtle and elegant

programme of decorations and signage

contrib uted to a large extent to the attrac-

tiveness of the championships.

Media servicesThe publicity that the World Figure Skat-

ing Championships attracts through TV

and other media around the world is

enormous. The world championships

are a massive media window onto major

countries such as the USA, Japan, China,

Canada, France, Germany, Russia and

others.

A total of 700 journalists were accred-

ited in Göteborg and reported on the world

championships on location – more than

during the previous year’s world cham-

pionships in Tokyo. Of these journalists,

380 came from television and radio com-

panies all over the world. The biggest tele-

vision companies on location were ESPN,

USA (90 persons accredited), SVT, Swe-

den (85), Fuji TV, Japan (48), Eurosport

(32), and TV France (20 accredited).

There were also 170 newspaper journal-

ists and 80 photographers on hand. Alto-

gether their newspapers and news chan-

nels reached many millions of readers.

The goal was to offer the best possible

service to the accredited media before

and during the event. This meant close

collaboration between the world champi-

onships committee, the Swedish Figure

Skating Association, Sveriges Television

(SVT), Göteborg & Co and Got Event.

In the run-up to the world championships

a great deal of effort was put into build-

ing publicity for Swedish figure Skating

and the Swedish competitors, as well as

informing the press about the event and

the sport.

In collaboration with SVT, Göteborg

& Co produced an opening vignette that

was offered to all television broadcasters

through EBU. This vignette was also

shown several times during the competi-

tions at the Scandinavium.

The media at ScandinaviumThe press stand in the arena had 40 spa-

ces for television commentators and 150

spaces for newspaper journalists. In the

foyer of the Scandinavium, beneath the

press stand, an area was set up for the

press to do interviews with the compet-

itors. There were stations for seven tele-

Facts about the World Championships

Arena: Scandinavium, GöteborgAudience: 83,500 over 8 daysParticipants: 205 skaters from 48 countries, and 2,500 accredited indi-viduals, including 300 managers and coaches100 judges, ISU representatives, etc.700 media representatives450 volunteers40 television companies and 61 television cameras45 hours of live broadcasts600 hours of television broadcasts350 million television viewers in 65 countries

21

22

G O T E B O R G – W O R L D C H A M P I O N S H I P C I T Y

vision companies, zones for sound and

video teams and for the newspaper press

and radio.

The four largest television compan-

ies – SVT, ESPN, Fuji-TV and TV France –

were given their own rink-side studio plat-

forms. The Press Center was located in

Valhalla sport.

Services and social eventsThe main task of media services is to en-

sure that all the technical details and all

the structures are working and in place.

But for the event to be memorable, it is

also essential that the standard of service

exceeds expectations in every area.

With the co-operation of Göteborg

Restaurant Association and Burgården

college, a restaurant serving meals of a

very high standard was set aside for the

media. On the evening before the world

championships began, all the journalists

were invited to a welcome party with a

buffet and chance to mingle.

Television companies and journalists

who wanted to do reports outside the

arena were offered assistance by Göte-

borg & Co Media Center. Broadcast sets

in Göteborg were put at the free disposal

of all television companies. ESPN, CBC

Canada and other channels were given

help to record clips outside the arena. From the left: Ottavio Cinquanta, Chairman of ISU; Claes Bjerkne, CEO Göteborg & Co; Ewa Björling, Minister for Trade.

HospitalityTwo dinners were held: The ISU & Judges

Dinner at Börsen in Göteborg, with 93

guests, and a closing banquet for more

than 600 people held on the Saturday

evening at Kajskjul 8. Receptions were

held during the week in the Scandinavium

VIP suite, with guests invited from all over

Sweden.

An impressive programme was put on

during the week to entertain VIP guests,

including guided tours of the arena and

interviews with top skaters and television

celebrities.

The winners of the medalsMen Gold Jeffrey Buttle, Canada Silver Brian Joubert, France Bronze Johnny Weir, USAWomen Gold Mao Asada, Japan Silver Carolina Kostner, Italy Bronze Yu-Na Kim, KoreaIce dance Gold Isabelle Delobel/ Olivier Schoenfelder, France Silver Tessa Virtue/ Scott Moir,Canada Bronze Jana Khokhlova/ Sergei Novitksi, RussiaPairs Gold Aliona Savchenko/Robinshort Szolkowy, Germanyprogr. Silver Dan Zhang/Hao Zhang, China Bronze Jessica Dube/ Bryce Davison, Canada

23

24

ESTRO 2008 was one of the most im-

portant conferences to take place in Göte-

borg last year. It was a challenge to meet

and exceed the expectations of 4,500 of

Europe’s leading researchers and radio

oncologists. The results were outstand-

ing: the conference in Göteborg gained

the highest rating ever in ESTRO’s own

assessment of the event. New records

were also set for sponsorship revenues

and exhibition area. You could hardly ask

for better confirmation of Göteborgs pro-

fessional standing as a conference city.

ESTRO is one of 24 organisations that

are part of a cancer research network,

each of which draws at least 2,000 del-

e gates to its meetings. This successful

event could therefore herald new oppor-

tunities for Göteborg to attract more con-

ferences in this sector.

One of the main reasons why Göteborg

was chosen for the conference is that the

city and the region have specialist exper-

tise in radiotherapy. A key factor behind

Göteborg’s success in attracting scientific

conferences is that we promote collab-

oration where the region has scientific

skills.

Göteborg also exceeded the expec-

tations of another conference organiser.

Over the course of a few beautiful days

in June, leading newspaper owners, chief

editors and publishers from around the

world gathered in Göteborg for their World

Editors Forum. It was the first time that

WAN had held their conference in Scan-

dinavia. A full 1,800 delegates attended,

making it a record event. The Swedish

Newspaper Publishers’ Association iss-

ued the invitations and hosted the forum.

The management of Göteborgs-Posten

and Bonniers were the driving forces be-

hind bringing this prestigious confer ence

to the city. Leading cities such as Rio de

Janeiro, Hong Kong, Seoul and Moscow

have previously hosted the event.

In November the Swedish Society of

Medicine celebrated its 200th anniver-

sary with a national conference attended

by around 7,000 delegates. In addition to

a full scientific programme and exhibition

at the Swedish Exhibition Centre, the con-

ference included a popular public aware-

ness event at Nordstadstorget, and an

anniversary symposium. An expert pan el

of international speakers met in the Scan-

dinavium to discuss global health issues

in front of 2,000 people. According to

Mats Bauer, CEO of the Swedish Society

of Medicine, the arrangements ran like

clockwork, thanks to the efforts of many

people and local willing ness to assist.

World-class conferences

110,000 nights in the Göteborg regionDuring 2008, Göteborg & Co was actively

involved with 112 conferences in the

region, bringing in around 40,000 deleg-

ates who spent a total of 110,000 deleg-

ate days. These conferences generated

almost SEK 400 million in tourism turn-

over. They spanned many areas of society:

industry, the environment, transport, the

public sector, politics, religion, culture,

tourism, leisure, medicine, education,

science and sports.

Six factors for successful meetingsAccessibility is a vital factor in global com-

petition today, and critical if we are to suc-

cessfully develop Göteborg as a city for

conferences and events. One absolute

requirement is for good access by direct

flights to Göteborg. Closeness to every­

thing within the city is a very strong argu-

ment in Göteborg’s favour. Few cities in

the world can offer such centrally located

exhibition and conference facilities, ho-

tels, restaurants, shopping and activities

within easy walking distance of each oth-

er. Conference delegates avoid long and

tiring journeys, which makes for a more

enjoyable experience and allows them to

G Ö T E B O R G – C O N F E R E N C E C I T Y

When the European Society of Therapeutic

Radio Oncology (ESTRO) and the World

Association of Newspapers (WAN) were

considering holding their annual meetings

in Göteborg instead of one of the major

European capitals there was some concern

that they might attract fewer members

than usual. Instead, both ESTRO and

WAN achieved all-time attendance

records.

Göteborg & Co offers the following services free of charge:

Tailored information about premises and hotelsRecommendations for social activities and excursionsPresentation materials (printed, film, etc.)Production of formal tendersSite inspections (conference premi-ses, hotels, sights, etc.)Acting as intermediary in contacts with trade specialists

25

26

use their time more effectively for net-

working.

Attractive facilities and effective infra-

structure have contributed greatly to

Göteborg’s success as a conference city.

Well-attended conferences require con-

ference premises and hotel rooms with

good capacity. The new hotel in Posthuset

provides 550 new rooms and conference

space for 1,000 delegates. A new exhibi-

tion hall at the Swedish Exhibition Centre

will increase the total exhibition space by

20 per cent, to 50,000 square metres.

New conference premises being built will

accommodate 3,000 people.

Commitment is absolutely essential if

Göteborg is to compete successfully with

well-known cities such as London, Paris

or Rome. Because our city is smaller, we

have to work harder to become a really

attractive conference destination.

Collaboration is a key idea for Göteborg.

The city’s size makes it an ideal location

for conferences in many ways. We have a

long tradition of respectful and confid­

ence-inspiring collaboration.

Hospitality begins right at the airport,

where our guests are welcomed and

looked after. Their first impressions are

reinforced by banners and flags on the

city’s streets. Welcoming events attended

by the mayor are also much appreciated.

Little details are also important in giving

participants a warm welcome, like when

tram drivers call out the name of confer-

ences at Korsvägen tram stop.

Long-term processThe lead time from agreement to imple-

mentation of an international conference

is often three to five years. For corporate

meetings, the lead time is usually shorter,

around 6–8 months.

Corporate meetings have seen consider-

able growth in recent years. Even though

we can expect some decline during the

current recession, we are aiming to

strengthen our offering in this area.

The development of regular meetings is

another important area. Meeting@TUR

is a three-year project that is intended

to broaden the TUR travel fair so that

it also involves the conference sector.

Göteborg’s qualities as a conference city

will be demonstrated through site visits

and programmes.

AmbassadorsMany prominent researchers and scien-

tists with a high international standing

work at Göteborg’s universities and col-

leges. Over the years, many of them have

become conference ambassadors, sup-

ported and trained by Göteborg & Co.

These conference ambassadors are key

figures when it comes to attracting new

conferences in their specialist fields. Their

commitment and networks of contacts

make a big contribution to Göteborg’s

success as a conference city. Leading rep-

resentatives of industry also have a vital

role to play as ambassadors in bringing

corporate conferences to the city.

Thomas Björk Eriksson,

conference ambassador

Senior consultant and head of the ra-

diotherapy unit at Sahlgrenska Hospital

“I found it difficult to see good reasons

why international organisations would

choose Göteborg as a venue for meetings.

But I was certainly won over! I recommen-

G O T E B O R G – C O N F E R E N C E C I T Y

Major conferences in 2008 Delegates Guest nights

National Moderate Party Conference 1,500 2.0EUROLOG 800 2.0WAN – World Assn, Newspapers 1,800 3.5ICSB Systems Biology 1,000 4.0ECER Educational Research 1,400 4.0Mission Covenant Church of Sweden 3,000 3.0 ESTRO 4,500 4.0National Conference of Swedish Association of Medicine 6,900 3.0Swedish Society of Obstetrics and Gynaecology 900 4.0

27

ded that ESTRO hold their conference in

Göteborg, and the result was a record

number of delegates and scientific re-

ports, and top ratings from the delegates

themselves. In short, it was the best con-

ference ever. There will no doubt be more

ESTRO conferences held in Göteborg.”

The Swedish Exhibition Centre – a valuable meeting partnerGöteborg & Co and the Swedish Exhibi-

tion Centre work together for their mutual

benefit. Each year over a million visitors

come to the Swedish Exhibition Centre

to take part in around 30 exhibitions (in­

cluding the TUR travel fair, Göteborg Book

Fair and EuroHorse) and hundreds of con-

ferences and congresses of various sizes.

The Swedish Exhibition Centre also owns

and runs the Hotel Gothia Towers – the

largest hotel in Scandinavia, with 704

rooms – the congress facilities and the

Gothia Towers Restaurants. The Swedish

Exhibition Centre generates around SEK

2.5 billion in business for the visitor in-

dustry each year.

Examples of forthcoming conferences

2009 DelegatesEU ministerial meetings under Sweden’s chairmanship. Three meetings will be held in Göteborg, with ministers of finance, defence and education. 1,500World Congress of Sexual Health 2,500European Blood and Marrow Transplantation 3,500Society of Environmental Toxicology and Chemistry 2,000

2010Annual Meeting of the European Society of Human Genetics 2,000European Academy of Dermatology and Venereology 9,000Congress of the European Committee forTreatment & Research in Multiple Sclerosis 4,500World Congress of Sociology 4,000Orthopaedic Surgery 2,500

2011International Society of Airbreathing Engines 500European Society of Atherosclerosis 3,000European Society for Clinical Nutrition and Metabolism 2,000

28

Göteborg aims to offer attractive and in-

spiring events in a welcoming atmo sphere.

The key elements are closeness and col-

laboration, or to put it another way: The

en tire city is the arena. The top arenas,

hotels, restaurants and attractions are

all within walking distance. It is also easy

to make yourself understood in Göteborg

– practically everyone speaks English,

and the people of Göteborg love the fact

that there is so much going on in the city.

This means that they participate in events

themselves and make sure that visitors

feel welcome and enjoy themselves.

We have a unique partnership model

and infrastructure that has been devel-

oped between different administrations

and industry, and over the years we have

built up a professional organisation that

guarantees high quality. Our ambition is

to provide service of global standard to

event organisers.

Long-term workGöteborg has established itself as an

events city, thanks to long-term develop-

ment efforts to bring events here. With

the aid of our own model for evaluating

events it is possible to forecast at-

tendances and financial results with

reasonably good confidence. In the case

of regular events we specialise in:

Forecasting: In preparation for big events

we meet representatives of the visitor

industry, with the aim of making the most

of the experience for everyone.

Presence: During events, our goal is to en-

sure that everything goes as smoothly as

possible, so that competitors, per formers,

officials, media representatives, VIP vis­

itors and the public are pleased.

Evaluation: We assess the results of

every event that takes place.

Local benefit – for the people of GöteborgEvery big event is an opportunity to

show off the city and the region to other

organisers of events and conferences,

investors, entrepreneurs, the media, etc.

We continuously canvass various groups

to generate interest in Göteborg, the

Västra Götaland region and regional trade

and industry.

Events mix Local events Out of diversity springs

quality. Local cultural and sports events

provide the vital foundation for larger

events.

Large local events provide experiences

and inspiration that encourage young

The entire city is the arena

people to get actively involved.

National and international events –

internationals, Swedish championships,

sports cup events that have grown, large

festivals and special performances, major

exhibitions, concerts at Ullevi, shows,

musicals, trade fairs and congresses, all

turn the spotlight on the city.

Large national and international events

include European championships and

world championships in many sports,

major annual, cultural, entertainment or

sports events, as well as major con-

gresses, exhibitions, etc.

Mega events – the biggest international

sports events, world expos and other

large, unique international projects.

These events are important for demon-

strating the unique opportunities of the

city and Sweden as a whole, for strength-

ening the brand of the city, the region

and the country, for generating growth

and tourism revenues, creating employ-

ment, enhancing the quality of life of the

region’s population and providing inspira-

tion for young people.

Projects that have grown Many annual events in Göteborg have

grown since they began and have moved

up the events pyramid:

G Ö T E B O R G – C I T Y O F E V E N T S

Göteborg has established itself as a lead-

ing events city in Scandinavia and as an

attractive alternative in the European

market. Collaboration between the city’s

various organisations and stakeholders,

combined with the central location of its

arenas, has made big events into public

festivals that capture the enthusiasm of

the city.

Mega

Large national and international

National and international

Large local

Local

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30

The Gothia Cup is now a large interna-

tional football event with the potential to

become a mega event.

The Partille Cup (handball), Göteborg Half

Marathon and Göteborg International

Film Festival began at local level and are

now national/international events with

the potential for further growth.

A Göteborg Christmas, an image-building

initiative, was held in 2004 as a large

local event. Today it is a large national/

international event with the potential to

become a mega event.

On the culture front, the Göteborg Book

Fair, which first took place in 1984, is a

good example of how a local event can de-

velop and move up the events pyramid.

Göteborg Culture Festival began as a

large local event and today is a large

national event. With the right investment

this could develop into a mega event.

The events year 2008Over the course of the year, Göteborg &

Co was involved in just over 120 events

at all levels, from local niche events to

international mega events. Five of these

were entirely organised by Göteborg & Co,

around 60 were events for which we pro-

vided production support, and a further

50 were regular annual events.

An intensive canvassing process is under-

way to host the IBSA World Games 2011,

the World Wrestling Championships 2011,

World Skills 2013 or 2015, World Gym-

naestrada 2015 and European Football

Championships 2016 in Göteborg.

We’re building expertiseMore and more is demanded of those

cities that wish to organise big events.

Requirements have changed radically

in areas such as technology and event

presentation, logistics, electronic com-

munication, media and security. This in

turn means that demands on the event

organiser and personnel have also risen

dramatically. It requires a good under-

standing of the financial opportunities

and risks associated with hosting events,

as well as a knowledge of the principles

of profitable enterprise and the resources

that are need to produce an event. A pro-

fessional events oganisation realises the

importance of such events from the tour-

ism perspective, is familiar with the way

the market works and has the necessary

skills for effective market communication.

We offer a complete organisationWhen it comes to big international events,

all the units within Göteborg & Co work

G O T E B O R G – C I T Y O F E V E N T S

31

closely together. This has big advantages

for the event organiser. The services on

offer can include project management,

marketing, media management and event

packages comprising travel, hotel and

ticket reservations. This enables us to be

proactive and add value to events.

We collaborateGöteborg & Co has a well-developed

network of contacts with all the com-

panies, administrations and authorities in

the city that are involved in any way with

events in Göteborg. By working closely

with them we can find quick and effective

answers to any questions, in areas such

as security, public transport, permits and

street decoration.

Events City Göteborg – how we develop the conceptThe whole picture. Events must deliver

positive experiences for the local popula-

tion, regional trade and industry, visitors,

organisers and sponsors.

Simplicity. Our tradition of co-operation

makes it natural to offer effective com-

plete solutions to organisers. It has to be

easy, effective, profitable and safe to do

business with Göteborg.

Closeness. Göteborg’s main events

arenas are located in the heart of the city,

along the unique events thoroughfare,

within easy walking distance of hotels,

restaurants, shopping, etc.

Capacity. We can offer some of the

largest arenas in the Scandinavia, both

indoors and outdoors.

Comfort. We continuously improve our

arenas to offer better comfort, service,

technology and security.

Accessibility. We take steps to improve

accessibility to and from Göteborg.

Find out more about events city Göteborg

at www.goteborg.com

Läs mer om evenemangsstaden

Göteborg på www.goteborg.com 2009 January P3 Gold music awards, Scan-dinavium Göteborg International Film Festival Samsung Gala, Scandinavium

February Chef of the Year, LisebergGöteborg Horse Show, ScandinaviumSong Contest, Scandinavium

March TUR 2009 travel fair, Swedish Exhibition Centre

April April–October Liseberg amusement park, summer season

May 13th International Science FestivalGöteborg Half MarathonGöteborg Basketball Festival

June Göteborg City Race STCC, FrihamnspirenGöteborg Symphony Orchestra, SlottsskogenUEFA U21 European Football Championships 2009, Gamla UlleviAC/DC, UlleviWorld Youth Games, athletics, UlleviPartille Cup youth tournament in handball, Heden

July Gothia Cup, Heden

August Madonna, UlleviGöteborg Culture FestivalWay Out West, SlottsskogenSeptember Göteborg Book Fair,

Swedish Exhibition Centre

November Quality Fair, Swedish Exhibition Centre

November–December A Göteborg Christmas, Christmas at Liseberg

2010Veteran World Swimming Championships

2011World Transplant GamesWorld Handball Championships

2013 European Indoor Athletics Championships

Examples of forthcoming big events

32

The magazine Sport & Affärer gave

Göteborg the top ranking for its clear,

long-term events strategy, good arenas

and high quality of national and inter-

national events. We assess the social

effects of events and we are reported to

be the best at combining sports events

and “downtown fun”. Special mention was

also made of the big annual youth events

and popular events, as well as the highly

professional organisation for attracting

and implementing events.

Events over the past yearIn addition to the World Figure Skating

Championships, a number of other large

sports events were held in Göteborg and

the surrounding area. Here is a selection:

STCC – the first ever city race took place

on 13–14 June in Göteborg. The venue

was the newly built Eco Drive Arena at

Frihamnspiren. The competition was first­

class, with a massive 38,000 spectators,

and tickets sold out on the final day of the

competition. One interesting detail was

the environmental aspect – with all the

cars running on low-emission fuel.

Göteborg Masters – the Ladies European

Tour in golf was held for the first time at

Lycke Golf Club on 18–21 September. The

event was a great success, and will return

to the same course in 2009. Players from

all over the world (around 25 countries)

took part, including Europe’s top women

golfers. The Göteborg Masters was organ-

ised by Golf Engineers AB in partnership

with the Swedish Golf Federation and the

Ladies European Tour.

Göteborg Horse Show celebrated an anni-

versary at the Scandinavium on 23–27

April. The 2008 event included the World

Cup Final in show jumping, a competi-

tion that was held for the first time at

the Scandinavium 30 years before. The

competition brought together riders from

17 counties and drew record numbers

of spectators, with 87,000 visitors. The

EuroHorse show, which took place at the

same tim, broke attendance records.

The Gothia Cup brought together young

football players from around the globe,

with 1,570 teams competing from 61

countries, making this tournament unique

Sweden’s top municipality for sports

in the world. 34,400 players met in more

than 4,500 matches on roughly 100

pitches around the city on 13–19 July.

The large spectator numbers demon-

strate that this event is also popular with

the people of Göteborg.

Partille Cup – the biggest handball tour-

nament in the world – took place on 1–6

July. The tournament drew 16,500 players

in 900 teams from 50 countries.

The open ing ceremony in the Scandin-

avium arena was watched by a capacity

audience, while the matches were held at

Heden. Over 3,500 matches were played

in brilliant sunshine with temperatures

rising to over 30ºC.

Göteborg Basketball Festival – Europe’s

biggest basketball tournament for under-

20s was held for the 30th time on 1–4

May, with around 500 teams and 7,000

players competing from nine countries.

The World Slalom Skateboarding Cham-

pionships in Slottsskogen on 1–3 August

brought 150 top skaters from all over

the world to Göteborg to compete for the

title of world champion. This was the first

time that the World Slalom Skateboarding

Championships had been held in Swe-

den, and was a result of the successful

world cup that was held in Slottsskogen

in 2007.

G Ö T E B O R G – C I T Y O F S P O R T S

For the third year in succession Göteborg

has topped the list of the leading munici-

palities in Sweden for sports, according to

the rankings produced by the magazine

Sport & Affärer (“Sports & Business”).

Göteborg came top thanks to its long-term

strategy for organising events and col-

laborating with industry. The final verdict

was summed up by the words: “A leading

events city in Europe”.

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34

Göteborg and the Västra Götaland region

offer a broad and pluralistic range of cul-

tural attractions. This forms the basis for

well-established cultural events in the

form of film, literature, music, dance and

theatre.

When this diversity is matched by a

strong interest in culture it provides an

excellent foundation for the many recur-

ring cultural events in our region.

Over 500 programme items make up Göteborg Culture FestivalGöteborg Culture Festival is an annual

city festival that aims to contribute to a

warmer, more welcoming and enjoyable

society. Streets and markets are trans-

formed into festival sites that offer a rich

variety of culture. Everyone is invited and

admission is free. With visitor numbers

approaching 600,000 visitors, the Culture

Festival is one of the biggest city festivals

in Sweden. On 12–17 August Göteborg

Culture Festival was held for the sec-

ond time. Along the length of the festival

thoroughfare, which runs through the cen-

tre of Göteborg, visitors were treated to a

succession of experiences that included

street theatre, concerts, dance bands,

exhibitions and much more. High points

were the Sport Opera at Götaplatsen,

which was broadcast live on Swedish tele-

vision (SVT), and the opening of the Dan-

ce and Theatre Festival with a contempo-

rary French circus at Gustaf Adolfs torg.

Regular successesA number of successful annual cultural

events were held during the course of the

year, as usual:

Göteborg International Film Festival set a

new record with the sale of 124,000 tick-

ets for around 750 showings of over 450

films from a total of 67 countries.

Göteborg Symphony Orchestra and Göte-

borg Symphony Choir were performing

during the traditional concert in Slotts-

skogen, conducted by Eva Ollikainen in

front of an audience of around 30,000

people.

Göteborg Jazz Festival delivered swing,

New Orleans jazz, gospel and blues on

eight stages in central Göteborg.

Göteborg Book Fair attracted 950 exhi-

bitors and 101,000 visitors. Around 800

authors contributed to a total of 2,400

programme items, and the fair was atten-

ded by around 1,200 journalists.

Kulturnatta provided an evening extra-

vaganza of over 100 cultural adventures

in theatres, churches, cafés and galleries.

Culture enhances quality of life

Permanent institutions and miscellaneous events Many cultural institutions are situated

within walking distance of the city centre.

Göteborg Concert Hall, museums, Göte-

borg Opera House, Göteborg City Theatre,

other theatres and music stages and the

City Library are all easily accessible and

help make Göteborg a city where culture

flourishes.

A little further out of the city is a diverse

and fascinating selection of music clubs,

theatres, galleries and other venues.

G Ö T E B O R G – C I T Y O F C U L T U R E

A diverse cultural scene and successful

events on the cultural calendar make a

major contribution towards fulfilling

the vision of Göteborg as one of the most

welcoming and attractive metropolitan

regions in Europe.

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36

G Ö T E B O R G – C I T Y O F L E A R N I N G

Greenhouse for learning

Knowledge is one of the fundamental

requirements for the formation and growth

of successful companies, which then give

employment to local people. Successful

events in the learning sector therefore ben-

efit the people of Göteborg. By encouraging

as many groups of society as possible to take

an interest in learning, we will gradually

attract more and more people to study at

different levels, and ultimately contribute

to the collective skills of the region.

International Science Festival sponsors Business Region GöteborgGöteborg & Co Trade & Industry GroupChalmers University of TechnologyThe University of GothenburgThe Knowledge FoundationRiksbanken Anniversary FundSwedish Research Council Main partners behind the Inter-national Science Festival 2008 Göteborgs-PostenIBMSKFVolvo Foundation for Strategic ResearchVästra Götaland RegionErna and Victor Hasselblad Foundation

The University of Gothenburg – one of

the largest in Northern Europe and one of

the most popular in Sweden – has a stu-

dent population of 50,000, while a further

10,000 study at Chalmers University of

Technology. The university is located in

the heart of the city and creates a special

atmosphere, with its old buildings and the

café culture along Vasagatan. Chalmers is

also centrally located and has part of its

campus in Lindholmen Science Park.

Student08 – Göteborg welcomes new studentsEach autumn around 10,000 new stu-

dents from over 70 countries begin their

higher education in Göteborg. A welcome

programme, Student08, was held in au-

tumn to show these students that Göte-

borg is a student-friendly city, and to help

them to get to know their new home.

Student08 had three stages:

Kick-off – evening arrangement on 18

September with a wide range of music

performances, messages of welcome

from sponsors and information from the

city, with lots of opportunities to mingle.

Activity week 19–28 September with a

variety of group activities at cultural in-

stitutions – guided tours, workshops, con-

certs, theatre performances, etc.

Discount offers for the whole term – a

booklet of offers for free experiences and

discounts on a wide range of activities

around Göteborg.

Student08 was organised by the Göte-

borg & Co Trade & Industry Group, Chal-

mers University of Technology, The Univer-

sity of Gothenburg and the Association of

Student Unions in Göteborg. The first stu-

dent event was held in 2003.

For international students, who grow

in number every year, a special corporate

day is held each spring and autumn.

International Science Festival on the theme of playAn interest that is sparked early in life,

through a visit to the Universeum Sci-

ence Discovery Centre for example, could

ulti mately lead a child to study science

at one of the city’s universities. It is of

na tional importance to get more young

people interested in studying technolo-

gy and the natural sciences, and it is of

regional importance to get as many stu-

dents as possible to choose to study in

Göteborg. This in turn will persuade more

well-educated people to live and work in

the Göteborg region.

The 12th International Science Fest ival

was held on 14–20 April. One of the main

aims of this event is to inspire people to go

into higher education. The Science Fest-

ival attracts up to 100,000 visitors, mak-

ing it the biggest popular science event

in Sweden. Hundreds of activ ities, work-

shops, lectures and debates are arranged

for people of all ages. Most programme

events are free of charge.

The theme for 2008 was “Let’s play!”,

and covered play in all its forms – fun and

serious. Current research and debate on

play was reported and discussed, and

num erous practical examples were demon-

strated. In Nordstan, a DreamHack event

was organised with a large number of

computers linked into a massive network.

The biggest attraction at the fair, with

around 10,000 visitors, was the experi-

mental workshops, where schoolchild-

ren and other visitors were able to learn

about science through their own experi-

ments. The school challenge for the year

was to design a new social game.

Guest Research Day, which is organ-

ised in conjunction with the Science Fest-

ival, is a gathering that all guest research-

ers at the universities are invited to

attend together with their families. This

gives the participants the recognition they

deserve, as well as recruiting them as

ambassadors for Göteborg.

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38

Way Out West – one of Europe’s 20 best festivalsIn just its second year the Way Out West

music festival established itself as a suc-

cessful event. In addition to bringing in

top performers to attract festival visitors,

in the face of stiff competition throughout

Europe, the ability to hold the festival in

a park in the heart of Göteborg was a key

factor in its success. More than 24,000

tickets were sold for the festival in Slotts-

skogen, with performers such as Neil

Young, Håkan Hellström, Mando Diao and

Sonic Youth. Way Out West also generates

massive media coverage during the fest-

ival and in the run-up to it. Way Out West

has been named as one of the twenty

best festivals in Europe by The Times.

Gothenburger of the Year2008 Gothenburger of the Year was Tho-

mas Johansson, Chairman of the Board

of Live Nation. Originally from Stockholm,

he has made an outstanding contribution

to ensuring that Göteborg is the venue

of choice for those who want to see glo-

bal artists. A whole generation has taken

home great memories from many fantastic

concerts. Thomas helped make this pos-

sible and put Göteborg on the interna-

tional tour itinerary at the same time. This

makes him a deserving holder of the title

of 2008 Gothenburger of the Year.

Gothenburger of the Year is a joint

event organised by Sveriges Radio Göte-

borg, the regional newspaper GT and

Göteborg & Co. The Gothenburger of the

Year must have done something positive

and worthwhile that has meant a great

deal to a large number of people, be a sin-

cere, good-hearted and well-known indivi-

dual, be a good ambassador for Göteborg,

and be born in Göteborg – or somewhere

else.

Concerts and shows that drew large audiencesThe ability of Göteborg to offer a selection

of musical experiences is important to att-

ract visitors all year round. A permanent

musical stage would be a valuable addi-

tion to the city.

A number of shows and musicals were

performed during the year that attracted

large audiences, particularly visitors from

other parts of the country. Here are a few

examples:

Song Contest semi­final at the

Scandinavium

Singin’ in the Rain at the

Scandinavium

West Coast Riot punk festival at

Public successes all year round

Frihamnspiren

MetalTown at Frihamnspiren

Bruce Springsteen & The E Street Band

at Ullevi

Mamma Mia at the Scandinavium

Iron Maiden at Ullevi

Way Out West, the international music

festival in Slottsskogen

Göteborg Jazz Festival in the city centre

Mary Poppins at Göteborg Opera House

Göteborg Dance & Theatre Festival at

various venues

Dansdax ball at the Scandinavium

Whitesnake at the Scandinavium

Plus a long list of performers at Liseberg

during the summer season – it’s always

entertainment season in Göteborg!

G Ö T E B O R G – C I T Y O F E N T E R T A I N M E N T

Göteborg has always been an attractive

city in the summer. In the last few years

the range of experiences on offer all year

round has grown significantly. The city of

culture and entertainment also attracts

visitors during the darker months of the

year, with theatres, dance, music and

shows, opera and museums, while the now

internationally recognised A Göteborg

Christmas plays a very important role in

making Göteborg a dynamic and exciting

city all year round.

Previous Gothenburgers of the Year

1993 Leif ”Loket” Olsson 1994 Tomas Ravelli 1995 Tomas von Brömssen1996 Maria Lundqvist1997 Jan Eliasson1998 Viveca Lärn1999 Jasenko Selimovic2000 Mikael Ljungberg2001 Håkan Hellström2002 Eva Bergman2003 Conny Evensson2004 Yannick Tregaro och Christian Ohlsson2005 Lotta Engberg2006 Ingvar Oldsberg 2007 Håkan Mild 2008 Thomas Johansson

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40

A C H R I S T M A S G Ö T E B O R G

Seasonal, stylish and innovative

We contribute to the light

A Göteborg Christmas is an image-building project that is led by Göteborg & Co in collabora-tion with partners who include Castellum, Akademiska Hus, Wallenstam, Göteborgs-Posten and Diligentia.

The big commitment to Göteborg as the

leading Christmas city in Scandinavia en-

tered its fifth year. It began with Liseberg

Christmas market in 2000, and contin-

ued in 2004 with the illuminations along

the main boulevard, Avenyn. In 2008 the

Christmas thoroughfare was further ex-

tended with many more illuminated build-

ings and sites, trees and bridges.

The theme for 2008 was “sea and wa-

ter”, and the Christmas thoroughfare was

designed to create the impression of a

navigation channel at sea. The technology

chosen had the lowest environmental im-

pact, including electricity on a green tariff.

New additions for 2008The previous year’s favourite, a Christmas

film projected onto the 1,500­square­met-

re facade of the Museum of Fine Art, was

shown in a new version entitled “A Sea of

Christmas”. A large outdoor multimedia

show was performed for the first time.

Läppstiftet (“the Lipstick”), the sky-

scraper near the Göteborg Opera House,

was transformed into an approach bea-

con, with light playing out over the city.

Lifting cranes in Frihamnen and the

chimneys at Rosenlundsverket were

illumi nated. The illuminations were im-

proved at Kungsportsplatsen, Gustaf

In recent years the number of visitors to

Göteborg has risen very substantially dur-

ing November and December. The reason

is Christmas at Liseberg and A Christmas

Göteborg. The stylish and trend-setting

Christmas illuminations, Christmas

markets, Christmas decorations, Christ-

mas shopping, Christmas buffets, ginger

biscuits, mulled wine and crowds of happy

people create a genuine Christmas atmo-

sphere in the city.

Adolfs Torg, The Universeum Science

Discovery Centre and the City Library.

A large new ice rink was opened to the

public at Heden, close to Avenyn.

A white Christmas at Liseberg Almost five million twinkling Christmas

lights lit up the park at Liseberg amuse-

ment park. Around 540,000 visitors came

to see Sweden’s biggest Christmas mar-

ket and attractions, to join in Christmas

carol-singing, to ice skate, see ice shows,

visit the ice bar and enjoy a Christmas

buffet. And of course the children got to

meet Santa. The festive atmosphere was

enhanced in 2008 by covering part of

the Christmas thoroughfare with artificial

snow of the type used in film shoots.

The goal of A Göteborg ChristmasThe goal is to create an attractive and

inspiring experience for visitors and res-

i dents of Göteborg, in a light and safe

environment. A Göteborg Christmas and

Christmas at Liseberg attract many long-

distance visitors who fill the hotels and

restaurants at weekends, from the end of

November until the middle of December.

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42

G Ö T E B O R G – T H E G R E E N C I T Y

The exhibition, which lasted three

months, from June to September, is part

of a partnership between Göteborg Bot-

anical Garden, Liseberg Park, the Garden

Society of Göteborg and Gunnebo House

& Gardens. Between them, these four

very different gardens attracted both vis-

i tors with a general interest in gardening

and horticultural academics. The theme

of the exhibition ranged from the 18th

century to the future, through the history

of the kitchen garden, unique cultural set-

tings and innovative garden design.

The Gardens of Göteborg project,

which enhanced the image of Göteborg as

a green city with the some of best parks

in northern Europe, was managed by

Göte borg & Co.

Over half a million visitorsThere were over 300 different items on

the programme. Temporary exhibitions

and theme gardens were created specif-

ically for the exhibition. Permanent ad-

ditions included the Garden Society of

Göteborg’s new rose park, Liseberg’s

20,000-square-metre Liseberg Garden,

restoration work at Gunnebo House and

the new theme garden that greets visitors

to Göteborg Botanical Garden.

The event was extremely success-

ful. Göte borg Botanical Garden attracted

twice as many visitors as usual, and the

other gardens also saw big rises in vis-

itor numbers. Over the period the gardens

were visited by around 560,000 people.

The media impact was massive, with

very positive articles about Göteborg’s

parks in general and the Gardens of Göte-

borg in particular. The Daily Telegraph’s

gardening section, a world leader in its

field, dedicated the whole of its first page

to Gardens of Göteborg. Headlines in oth-

er newspapers included: “Gothenburg’s

Glorious Garden Festival”, “Gothenburg

Festival is a walk in the parks”, “Göteborg

im Gartenfieber” and, in New Zealand,

“I’m loving Gothenburg in Sweden”.

Göteborg Botanical Garden is home to

more than 20,000 different species, and

is counted as one of the best in Europe.

A new area at the entrance to the Garden

was planted out with a beautiful display

of summer flowers and featured the prize­

winning anniversary garden “A tribute to

Linné”. A number of seminars were held

here, as well as several exhibitions.

Gunnebo House & Gardens is an 18th

century estate that is now dedicated

to organic gardening. The house and

Gardens of Göteborg

It is obvious to residents and visitors to

the city that Göteborg is a green city. It

has plenty of parks and woodlands, in fact

around 175 square metres for each resident

of the city. In 2008, four of the most

popular parks offered visitors the best of

Swedish and international garden design

as part of the massive Gardens of Göteborg

exhibition.

grounds have been carefully restored in

accordance with the original architect’s

drawings. The gardens are divided into

three types: kitchen gardens, formal gar-

dens and the landscaped park. Three

temporary kitchen gardens were created

on the theme of gardens of the future.

Liseberg Park is appreciated as much for

its beautiful park as it is for its amuse-

ment rides and Christmas market. During

Gardens of Göteborg 2008 a completely

new park was created covering 20,000

square metres, in collaboration between

landscape architects from Sweden and

Great Britain. Visitors were greeted by

exciting combinations of trees, flowers,

water and works of art, created by artists

on site and dotted around the park.

The Garden Society of Göteborg focused

on preserving, recreating and renewing

various areas of the gardens in 2008. A

number of exhibition architects, including

several designers from other countries,

made their mark on different parts of the

park. The result was a journey through

time, with the park restored to its former

glory but with contemporary touches.

There were also a number of indoor exhi-

bitions.

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Leve Klotet (Living Planet) – a high-profile climate galaIn January the Leve Klotet gala was held

at Scandinavium, and the city of Göteborg

awarded its sustainability prize to Al Gore,

former US Vice President, in the pres-

ence of HRH Crown Princess Victoria. Al

Gore was awarded the prize for his strong

commitment to tackle climate change by

spreading awareness of global warming.

He received standing ovations from the

audience in the arena, filled to capacity.

The evening’s music was performed by

Göteborg Symphony Orchestra, Andreas

Jonsson, Carolina Sandgren, The real

group, Thomas Di Leva and Åsa Fång,

accompanied by over 200 children. Jan

Eliasson, former Chairman of the UN

General Assembly, spoke on the theme of

Sustain able Development.

The purpose of the gala was to foster

awareness, commitment and confidece in

the future. The event contributed enorm-

ously to raising the profile of the exten s ive

environmental work done in Göteborg.

On the day of the gala, a number of

seminars were also held on the theme of

the environment and sustainable develop-

ment. A programme of events was also ar-

ranged to give over 200 school pupils the

change to learn more about the climate

and the environment. The day ended with

the youngsters being invited to the even-

ing gala by SIDA (The Swedish Internation­

al Development Co­operation Agency) and

the Global Forum.

About the Göteborg PrizeThe Göteborg Prize for sustainable de-

velopment is an international prize that

recognises contributions to sustainable

development. The prize was awarded for

the first time in autumn 2000, under the

title of Göteborg International Environ-

mental Prize. Each year, an independent

G Ö T E B O R G – T H E G R E E N C I T Y

jury chooses prize winners who have

contributed to sustainable development

under the criteria for the prize. Past prize

winners have ranged from ecolabelling

organisations and co-operatives, to poli-

ticians and directors of companies. The

prize of one million Swedish kronor is

jointly awarded by the city of Göteborg

and a number of committed companies:

Andra AP-fonden, Carl Bennet AB, Elan-

ders AB, Eldan Recycling, Folksam, Göta-

verken Miljö, Handelsbanken, Nordea,

Peab, Schenker AB and Stena Metall AB.

Göteborg & Co – an environmen-tally certified companyIn June 2008 Göteborg & Co was awarded

an environmental diploma by the city of

Göteborg Environmental Administration.

The diploma marks the implementation

of an environmental management system

that is designed to promote continuous

improvement.

“By transforming its environmental

promises into action, Göteborg & Co has

shown exemplary foresight and respons-

ibility. This environmental work is an im-

portant step on the road to a better en-

vironment in Göteborg and the rest of the

world,” writes the Environmental Adminis-

tration in its comments on the award.

Uncomfortable truths

45

Crown Princess Victoria hands over the Göteborg Prize to Al Gore, watched by Göran Johansson, Chairman of the Municipal Executive Board.

46

Göteborg & Co has the task of marketing

and contributing to the development of

Göteborg as a tourist city. In 2008, tour-

ism in Göteborg grew for the 17th year in

succession, setting a new record for the

number of overnight stays – just over 3.2

million – and bringing in tourism revenues

of around SEK 23 billion.

Sweden is the largest single market

for tourism in Göteborg. Marketing efforts

abroad are focused on Norway, Great Brit-

ain, Denmark and Germany, in collab-

oration with the Västra Götaland region

and the West Sweden Tourism Board. In

recent years there has been a growth in

tourism from southern Europe, especially

Italy, but also France and Spain. The key

to these geographical markets is direct

flights, particularly with economy airlines.

We focus our efforts on metropolitan re-

gions that have direct links with Göteborg-

Plus, Göteborg and the Västra Götaland

region.

Göteborg is marketed to tourists in

four stages: building the brand, commun-

icating the product offering, giving visitors

the best possible experience while they

are here, and nurturing relationships with

visitors.

Marketing in Sweden and abroadMarketing consists of advertising, direct

mail, information on the goteborg.com

website and regular emails describing a

variety of offers.

Some campaigns cover events such as

the World Figure Skating Championships.

Other campaigns focus on Göteborg as

a tourist city. Another important area

is press canvassing. Marketing abroad

mainly takes place online through gote-

borg.com, during exhibitions, workshops,

site inspections and in the form of cam-

paigns, often together with Visit Sweden.

One example of an event-oriented mar-

keting campaign is A Göteborg Christmas,

which is organised in collaboration with

Liseberg and Stena Line. The campaign

starts in October and is directed at Swe-

den, Norway and parts of Denmark. A

Christmas magazine is sent out to almost

four million readers, as a supplement in

daily newspapers in central and southern

Sweden, the Oslo area and Jutland. At the

same time A Göteborg Christmas is mar-

keted through goteborg.com and with the

aid of press visits and press releases.

Our call centre handles all types of

questions by telephone and email. We

provide services to affiliated agents who

sell the Göteborg Package.

An attractive city all year round

Packaged and readyTourist company products in Göteborg

and western Sweden have to be easy to

find and book. This makes it especially

important to ensure that our companies’

products are easily accessible and can be

booked on goteborg.com. In an effort to

tailor companies’ products to customers’

needs we offer a variety of package solu-

tions. These packaged products include:

The GöteborgPackage – a hotel package

that offers good value for money by com-

bining overnight accommodation, break-

fast and a Göteborg Pass. Tickets to most

theatres, shows and events in Göteborg

can be included in the package.

The Göteborg Pass is included in the

GöteborgPackage and is also sold separ-

ately through retailers in Göteborg. The

Göteborg Pass gives free admission to

a large number of sights and activities

in Göteborg, sightseeing tours by bus or

boat, car parking and free travel on public

transport.

School trips and study trips provide a di-

verse package of pre-booked activities,

including accommodation, meals and ac-

tivities.

A variety of event-based products are also

offered in conjunction with for example

events and major concerts.

G Ö T E B O R G – C I T Y O F T O U R I S M

Göteborg has a big attraction for tourists,

particularly during the summer, but

increasingly at other times of the year as

well. In spring and autumn the city draws

visitors for its culture, entertainment and

shopping, and for the last few years, A

Göteborg Christmas has made the city a

very attractive destination for tourists from

both northern and southern Europe.

47

48

Information service on location • Kungsportsplatsen tourist information

office receives more than 400,000

visitors each year and has blue and

yellow approval, which means that we

provide information about the whole

of Sweden as a tourist destination.

During the high season the tourist in-

formation office can provide informa-

tion in 13 languages.

• Nordstan tourist information office,

which we run in collaboration with

Nordstan marketing management, has

green approval, meaning that we pro-

vide information about the region and

about the Nordstan shopping centre.

• At present there are 90 brochure

stands and terminals linked to gote-

borg.com placed at hotels, camping

sites, airports and other locations.

• Touch screen display in one of the dis-

play windows at Kungsportsplatsen,

where visitors can surf goteborg.com

“through the window”.

In the peak season, each of the tourist

information offices gets 2,000–3,000 vis­

itors each day. Together, the tourist infor-

mation offices are open every day except

Christmas Day and New Year’s Day, and in

summer from 10.00 to 20.00.

During big events we have staff on

hand at airport and arenas. When cruise

ferries dock at the harbour our staff go

aboard with tourist information.

Our tourist information offices have

been voted Tourist Information Office of

Year several times. In 2008 we received

the Children’s Tourism Prize as Best Tour-

ist Information Office.

Collaboration with other organisationsStrategically important partners in the

marketing of Göteborg as a year-round

destination include hotels, passenger car-

riers, museums, Liseberg, Universeum

Science Discovery Centre, Stena Line,

Strömma canal boats, Göteborg Opera

House, GotEvent, theatres, sightseeing

companies, restaurants, the retail trade,

events organisers, etc.

Göteborg is a member of the Swedish

Cities alliance, together with Stockholm,

Malmö, Visit Sweden and LFV. Swedish

Cities markets and promotes the cities in

selected European destinations.

Göteborg also collaborates with other

cities in Scandinavia with the aim of stim-

ulating interest in our part of Europe.

One of the most welcoming airports in EuropeGöteborg Landvetter Airport is the gate-

way to Göteborg, and the region as a

whole. Göteborg Landvetter Airport and

Göteborg jointly manage a project with

the aim of marketing the Göteborg region.

Joint initiatives should make Göteborg

Landvetter Airport one of the best airports

in Europe for making passengers feel wel-

come in terms of identifying with the des-

tination and in developing and marketing

Göteborg to the international market.

Development workPossibly the most important project in

the development process is our initiative

to make goteborg.com one of the world’s

best online destination sites. Building a

network with other European cities is an

important part of this development pro-

cess. In 2009 the City Break Expo will be

held in Göteborg. The City Break Expo is

organised by Reeds Exhibition in co-op-

eration with European Cities Marketing.

What we offer

• Good accessibility to our company’s tourism products

• The Göteborg Package and Göte-borg Pass, which can be tail ored to suit the requirements of diffe-rent tour operators/cust omers.

• Collaboration with organisers of events/conferences and local companies in the tourism indus try.

• Visitor services through our tourist information offices (information, accommodation bookings and tickets for excursions).

• Tourist information at a number of strategic locations.

G Ö T E B O R G – C I T Y O F T O U R I S M

49

50

Total retail sales in the Västra Götaland

region in 2008 were just over SEK 100

billion. It is estimated that almost 50

per cent of this amount was spent in the

Göte borg region. Tourism’s share, in other

words the proportion made up by tour-

ism spending, corresponds to almost 20

per cent of total trade. Tourism shopping

in the Göteborg region is estimated at

around SEK 9 billion in 2008.

A trend-setting design cityIn recent years, Göteborg has developed

into a trend-setting design city that offers

modern interior design stores, innova t-

ive design and art & craft shops. It is also

home to the Röhsska Museum, Sweden’s

only museum of design and decorative

arts.

Several well-known designers who

work in Göteborg have launched popu-

lar brands, including Maria Westerlind,

Nudie Jeans, Stylein, Velour, Prickig Katt

and Twist & Tango.

Great range of shopping within 15 minutes’ walkAvenyn, the main boulevard and enter-

tainment thoroughfare in Göteborg, is li-

ned with open-air cafés, bars and shops.

There are almost 200 shops around

Avenyn and Vasastaden.

The inner city within the moat (Vall­

graven) consists of narrow courtyard

streets with small shops and an entire

block of large well-known department

stores.

Nordstan is Sweden’s leading shop-

ping centre and was the most visited

shopping centre in the country in 2008.

By the end of the year over 35 million

people had passed through the shop-

ping centre. The largest increase was in

March–April, and in October, when sev-

eral events and exhibitions took place in

Göteborg.

Design and good-value shopping

G Ö T E B O R G – C I T Y O F S H O P P I N G

Shopping is an important part of the travel

experience, whether you are a conference

delegate, event visitor or tourist. Shopping

gives added value to a journey or stay, and

is the single area where visitors spend most

money.

Choice of charming districtsA walk or a short tram journey takes you

to the cobbled streets of Haga with its dis-

tinctive timber buildings, which provide

an intimate setting for cafés, specialist

shops, fashion boutiques and second-

hand shops. Linnéstaden, which sur-

rounds Linnégatan, Göteborg’s second

boulevard, is a Bohemian but trendy dis-

trict with a wide selection of shops, bars,

pubs and local restaurants.

51

Ida Wadenrud

Rickard Lindqvist

Hanna Lindström

52

Food – an ingredient for successThe food served in Göteborg’s restaurants

is of a world-class standard and plays an

important part in the marketing of our

region. Göteborg has five restaurants in

the Michelin Guide: Sjömagasinet, 28+,

Base ment, Fond and Kock & Vin. Chefs in

Göte borg have a unique reputation for sur-

prising and inspiring colleagues and

diners. Collaboration with Göteborg Res-

taurant Association (GRF) means that

culinary experiences are a guaranteed

element of every arrangement involving

Göteborg & Co, such as site-visits with or-

ganisers of conferences or events, press

visits and activities in Sweden or abroad.

Delice – good food cities of the worldGöteborg’s good reputation as a food city

is demonstrated by the fact that it is one

of a select group of cities that have been

offered membership of the Delice network

of good food cities of the world. The exclus-

ive nature of this club is indicated by its

other members, which include Lyon, Bar-

celona, Montreal, Geneva, Milan, Guang-

zhou, and Osaka. Delice singles out food

as an important factor for quality of life.

The network promotes the exchange of

experi ences in areas such as training and

research, marketing and food in the public

sector. Members of Göteborg Restaurant

Association can swap experiences with in-

ternational colleagues within the network.

Plans for food weekA development project is in progress with

the aim of introducing a food week that

will celebrate all aspects of food. Possible

activities include an exhibition, seminars,

happenings in the city and competitions.

Kungsfenan preserves our cultural heritage

Kungsfenan – The Swedish Seafood

Award – is intended to inspire and stim-

ulate the continuing healthy development

of the fishing industry. This work is car-

ried out by the newly formed Kungsfenan

association. In addition to Göteborg & Co,

members include the University of Goth-

enburg, the Swedish Board of Fisheries,

the County Administrative Board of Västra

Götaland, the Västra Götaland region, the

West Sweden Tourism Board, the Swedish

Exhibition Centre and the Fisheries Sec-

retariat. The presentation of the Swedish

Seafood Award took place at the Göteborg

Opera House together with an exhibition

and seminars on the theme of sustainable

fishing for future fish­lovers.

A taste of Göteborg

The 2008 Kungsfenan award for Sus-

tainable Fishing went to Mats Ulmestrand,

from the Fisheries Secretariat’s sea fish

laboratory. The award for Maritime Gastro-

nomy went to Moreno Cedroni and Mauro

Uliassi, Italy. The 2008 Innovator of the

Year award was won by the Swedish Fish

Trade Federation for arranging the Swed-

ish National Seafood Championships.

Göteborg Fish Festival In September, the Fish Festival was held

at Fiskhamnen for the second year. The

public had opportunities to cheer on the

future Swedish Champions in seafood

and oyster opening, as well as the Nordic

champion in filleting fish! Visitors were

also able to enjoy the entertainment, sam-

ple a variety of delicious fish dishes, see

the world’s longest fish counter and bid

for their dinner at a fish auction.

Chef of the YearChef of the Year is the official Swedish

championship of the culinary profession.

The winner receives the gold medal of

the Swedish Gastronomic Academy and

the title of Chef of the Year, and gets the

opportunity to join the Chef of the Year As-

sociation. In 2009 the competition will be

held in Liseberg Hall, live on television.

G Ö T E B O R G – C I T Y O F F O O D

Food is a universal language that is

understood by everyone. “The Capital of

Taste”, as Göteborg is sometimes known,

has a culinary range and a tradition of

good food that has greatly contributed to

the city’s success as a city for conferences,

events and tourism. The theme is “Get a

taste of Göteborg” – an invitation that is

well worth accepting. Closeness to the sea

and the forest means good access to the fin-

est ingredients. Fresh fish and shellfish are

often on the menu.

53

54

The participating companies and organ-

isations take part through their appointed

representatives, each of whom devotes a

great deal of time to the task of develop-

ing Göteborg in a variety of areas. This

commitment is very valuable.

Göteborg & Co serves, through its

Trade & Industry Group (TIG), as a plat-

form for collaboration between trade and

industry, organisations, municipalities

and universities, with the aim of making

Göteborg even more competitive.

Focus on trade and industry, the learning environment and events TIG initiates projects and gives grants and

supports to trade and industry, education

and events, all with the aim of contrib-

uting to growth in the region. TIG supports

and initiates projects that

• stimulate the development of compet­

itive trade and industry

• supports the development of Göteborg

as a competitive city of learning and

• brings events in culture, sports and en-

tertainment to Göteborg.

Trade and industryInfrastructure is one subject that was ex-

amined closely by TIG during 2008. This

work involved discussing how the city can

develop from the enterprise viewpoint. We

considered needs, priorities, plans and

future scenarios.

The Göteborg Companipris Award has

been awarded annually since 1994 by the

financial markets society, Börssällska-

pet. The prize gives recognition to small

and medium-sized companies in every

sector. This year’s prize was won by two

companies: Quest, which has developed

a control computer for wind farms, and

Auto-adapt AB, which adapts vehicles for

use by people with restricted mobility and

physical disabilities.

A business environment study is car-

ried out every three to five years. Its aim is

to find out how entrepreneurs and others

feel about doing business with Göteborg,

as well as their perceptions of the city.

Learning environment Göteborg is a city of learning. The Univer-

sity of Gothenburg – the largest univer-

sity in the Nordic region – and Chalmers

University of Technology (with a total of

60,000 students) are immeasurable

assets to Göteborg. Over the years there

have been many collaborative projects

between Göteborg & Co, the School of

Business, Economics and Law at the Uni-

versity of Gothenburg and Chalmers Uni-

Collaboration sets Göteborg apart

versity of Technology.

A key ambition is to persuade students

to choose Göteborg and to stay here after

they complete their studies, as well as giv-

ing those who leave the city an incentive

to return with new experiences.

Student08, a programme of welcoming

events for students that has been held

annually since 2003, receives financial

support from TIG. Read more on page 36.

The International Science Festival is an-

other annual event that helps to promote

interest in higher education. Read more

about the Science Festival on page 36.

Young Enterprise, in which TIG is a part-

ner, aims to show upper secondary school

students the opportunities that exist for

starting their own companies. The stu-

dents are encouraged to develop their

creativity, initiative and entrepreneurial

skills. Over a period of a year they get to

run their own companies and sell goods

and services. An advisor from local trade

and industry is affiliated to each Young

Enterprise company. The Young Enterprise

companies replicate the entire life cycle

of a company.

The Global Forum, which takes place

every second year (the next is in 2009)

was formed in 2000 and provides a meet-

ing place in western Sweden to discuss

G Ö T E B O R G – C I T Y O F I N D U S T R Y

Göteborg & Co is a platform for collabora-

tion. Collaboration with traditional trade

and industry is managed by Göteborg

& Co’s Trade & Industry Group. This

group currently has 27 members, includ-

ing representatives of trade and industry

in Göteborg, the city of Göteborg, the

Göteborg Region Association of Municipal

Authorities, Business Region Göteborg,

Chalmers University of Technology and

the University of Gothenburg.

55

During the 2008 visit by Göteborg Symphony Orchestra to

Stockholm, politicians, representatives of trade and indu-

stry and the media were invited along and informed about

Göteborg Plus, a concept for marketing the city and the

region in Sweden and abroad, in collaboration between Gö-

teborg & Co and the West Sweden Tourism Board. The con-

ductor is Gustavo Dudamel.

56

globalisation and its consequences. The

organisers behind the Global Forum are

the LO union federation, the Confedera-

tion of Swedish Enterprise, the Västra Gö-

taland Region, Business Region Göteborg

and Göteborg & Co TIG.

The CIP-Forum is organised in collabor-

ation between the University of Gothen-

burg, Chalmers University, the Västra

Götaland Region, the city of Göteborg,

Business Region Göteborg and Göteborg

& Co. From 2009 Göteborg & Co will be

responsible for project management for

the CIP-Forum. Within the CIP-Forum

issues of importance for knowledge-

based economic growth are discussed.

EventsThe Culture Festival has been held annu-

ally since 1992, previously under the

same of the Göteborg City Festival. The

event is project managed by Göteborg &

Co. As a main partner, the Trade & Indus-

try Group has the task of bringing events

to the city and developing the festival.

Göteborg International Film Festival

receives a development grant from the

Trade & Industry Group, which also insti-

tuted the Nordic Film Award. In 2008, this

prize went to Roy Andersson for the film

You, the Living.

A variety of culture projects, such as

theatre groups, can apply for financial aid

from TIG. Each year, around 20 associ-

ations each receive SEK 5,000–20,000

in grants. For many associations, having

the Göteborg & Co logo on their posters

is a stamp of quality. Other, non-monet-

ary forms of support are currently being

developed, such as training in business

management for cultural associations.

Partnerships between cultural associ-

ations and trade and industry could also

be developed.

Other activitiesIntegration issues are a subject that is

discussed by the Trade & Industry Group.

In 2008 the group took part in an inte-

gration day, after which the Marketing

Ass ociation in Göteborg (Mig) attended a

shorter version.

Göteborg Symphony Orchestra has an

agreement with the Trade & Industry

Group. When the orchestra is performing

in other locations, TIG accompanies it

and conducts marketing activities. Once a

year the Symphony Orchestra gives a con-

cert in Stockholm, during which TIG and

the Västra Götaland Region (which owns

the orchestra) jointly invite company dir­

ectors, members of parliament from the

G Ö T E B O R G – C I T Y O F I N D U S T R Y

west of Sweden and government minis-

ters to an information meeting. The del-

egates are also invited to a meal prepared

by top chefs from Göteborg.

Collaboration with BRGThe Trade & Industry Group works closely

with Business Region Göteborg (BRG),

which markets Göteborg and the Göte-

borg region, with the aim of attracting new

enter prises and contributing to the contin-

uing diversification and development of

industry in the region. This collaboration

can take the form of joint production of

market ing materials that are intended

to make the region more competitive.

Each year, TIG awards SEK 90 million to

a vari ety of projects, as well as attending

various trade fairs with appropriate target

groups.

57

The Nordic Film Award was presented during the Göte-

borg Film Festival. The 2008 prize went to Roy Anders-

son for the film You, the Living. The Göteborg Big Film

Prize was introduced by Göteborg & Co Trade & Indus-

try Group.

58

Since 2004, when the original version

of goteborg.com – the official visitor and

events guide to the city of Göteborg – was

launched, Göteborg & Co has put consid-

erable effort into developing and main-

taining its website. The website has been

developed in close consultation with our

stakeholders, primarily the West Sweden

Tourism Board.

Goteborg.com has contributed to the

clear success of the tourism and visitor in-

dustry in Göteborg. Our companies’ prod-

ucts have been made easily available and

online bookings have increased markedly

since the website was launched. The tech-

nology has improved so much that it is

now high time to build the next version of

goteborg.com. Websites today rely heav-

ily on interaction and sharing information

online. Companies must now take into

account social networking channels and

interact with their customers. In 2008,

Göteborg & Co therefore went through a

procurement process, and has now signed

an agreement for the production of a new

version of the website. This work is expect-

ed to be completed in summer 2009.

Web 2.0The new version of goteborg.com will

communicate and strengthen the Göte-

borg brand and promote sales of the

company’s tourist products. Web 2.0 will

focus on the data that users supply them-

selves and the potential for mixing and

matching information from different ser-

vices. The common feature of Web 2.0 is

that users will have good opportunities for

interactivity. Consumers will no longer be

passive, but have an active role.

Smart and appealing packaging of our

products will make it easy for the cus-

tomer/user to buy our products and hence

increase our sales. Activity on the site will

increase as a result of simpler and faster

update features, which will improve visib-

ility in search engines. Visibility can also

be improved by linking the new version of

goteborg.com to some of the larger social

networks that are becoming increasingly

popular as communication channels.

The mobile phone – an important channelInformation has to be made available

wherever the target group is. Visitors to

Göteborg are now no longer limited to

find ing information in printed form or on-

line. While on holiday, tourists can explo-

re the city’s current offerings in culture,

shopping and restaurants from their mo-

bile phones, simply by visiting the address

Two million visits to goteborg.com

mobil.goteborg.com. Visitors to the mobile

site already make up almost 10 per cent

of visitors to goteborg.com.

The growth in visits to the mobile site

basically follows the same trend as for

goteborg.com. The mobile is an integral

part of the life of young people and will

become increasingly important. It has the

potential to become the major outlet for

ticket purchases. The new version of

goteborg.com will provide more opportu n -

ities to link mobile and web services.

G Ö T E B O R G – V I R T U A L C I T Y

The Internet has changed the way we

choose experiences and the way we choose

to travel. The global traveller uses the

Internet to find new destinations and

experiences. The choice of destinations and

activities is growing rapidly, and it will

become increasingly important to present a

clear brand and explain the values behind

it. Bookings are made immediately online

and therefore impose greater demands on

the accessibility of companies in the tour-

ism industry.

What visitors look for

A survey was carried out in sum-mer 2007 to find out what informa-tion visitors to goteborg.com were searching for and what they wanted to do.Here are the results:

What is there to do? 49%What events are taking place now? 32%What accommodation is on offer? 33%Bookings for Göteborg Package/Pass 28%How do we get to Göteborg? 23%Where can we eat? 12%

Number of visitors to goteborg.com:

2004 1,087,0002005 1,394,0002006 1,713,0002007 2,120,0002008 2,368,000

59

60

In recent years, Göteborg & Co and other

organisations have been committed to a

long-term strategy to improve accessib-

ility, mainly through economy air travel.

In the current situation of global financial

unrest and organisational changes in the

air travel industry it is even more imper-

ative to continue developing such links.

We there fore need to intensify our efforts,

firstly to retain the direct flights that have

come to Göteborg in the last few years,

and secondly to attract more airlines to

add flights to Göteborg.

Fewer departures can be com-pensated for by more arrivalsThe reality is that airlines keep flying

routes as long as they believe they are

profitable. At present, accessibility re-

lies largely on foreign travel by Swedes.

If Swedish demand for foreign travel falls

during the recession there is a risk that

several direct routes could become un-

profitable and be withdrawn.

To reduce this risk we need to con-

tinue aggressively packaging export-ready

products and invest even more in mar-

keting them to foreign markets. Göte-

borg & Co has operational responsibility

for marketing, under agreement with the

West Sweden Tourism Board. In 2008

the working model that was developed

over the last few years was implemented

among the airlines.

This approach has further enhanced

the way we are perceived as a destina-

tion by airlines and has been very well

received. Being an attractive destination

means that we have now had positive re-

sponses from all the airlines in the desti-

nations that are currently on our wish list,

a list that is regularly updated in consul-

tation with BRG, the LFV Group, the West

Sweden Chamber of Commerce and large

international companies.

Strength lies in offering a com-plete packageOlle Sundin, Airport Director of LFV Göte-

borg-Landvetter International Airport and

regional airports, and newly appointed

Chairman of Airport Council International

(ACI), puts it as follows:

“The strength lies in being able to offer

a complete package for the destination

through collaboration between trade and

industry, the visitor industry and the air-

port, which is the gateway to and from the

west of Sweden.

This package gives us a competitive

advantage that we will make the most of

now and over the next few years before

Carrier Wanted

G Ö T E B O R G – T H E I N T E R N A T I O N A L C I T Y

Accessibility is one of the key requirements

if Göteborg is to build on its position as a

city for tourism, conferences and events.

our market position is annexed by other

destinations. We’re not competing with

other airports, but with the complete

packages that other destinations offer. It

is important that we exploit the lead and

the position we have so far managed to

create for ourselves through this collab-

oration.”

When Ryanair reported in a press re-

lease on the new route between Göteborg

and Bremen, Wilhelm Hamilton, head of

Nordic operations, said of the partnership

with Göteborg: “Göteborg is a good tour-

ist city and Göteborg & Co is by far the

best in Sweden at selling its product. At

pres ent over 40 percent of traffic through

Göteborg is incoming passengers, but

that figure could rise to 60 per cent”.

Göteborg and the West of Swe-den at air travel fairsThe biggest event is the annual Routes

air travel fair in September, which brings

together representatives of airlines, air-

ports and destinations around the world,

to decide on the development of new and

existing routes. We have attended this fair

since 2006, in partnership with Business

Region Göteborg, the West Sweden Tour-

ism Board and the LFV Group.

At Routes 2008 we shared a stand

61

with the LFV Group, Stockholm and Mal-

mö under the Swedish Cities project. The

collective campaign theme was “Carrier

Wanted”.

Göteborg and Göteborg Landvet-ter International AirportIn June 2008, the LFV Group commis-

sioned a survey in which 26 airlines, some

of them network airlines and some econ-

omy airlines, were asked to compare

Göteborg Landvetter Airport with nine

other European airports. Göteborg Land-

vetter Airport was rated “Best in Class”

for collaboration with the local tourism

organisation, and for overall customer

satisfaction.

62

Lennart AlexanderssonManaging Director, Swedish Property

Federation Göteborg First region

“After ten years of being involved in

Göteborg & Co’s Trade & Industry

Group we have seen how Göteborg & Co

success fully combines public and private

business in a way that contributes strongly

to the development of the city. The event

that I particularly remember last year is

A Göteborg Christmas, which grows each

year and has benefited the visitor industry

and trade, and hence our members.”

Malin Franck Director, Hotell Radisson SAS

“I remember the big events most clearly

of all. The World Figure Skating Champi-

onships were fantastic, and so was the

Göteborg Horse Show. A Göteborg Christ-

mas was a high point that filled the hotels

in November and December. The regular

summer events are also good for cover-

age and for our profits over the period. We

especially noticed that the Bruce Spring-

steen concert attracts an affluent group

of people who expect good accommoda-

tion and good food. Göteborg & Co is in-

valuable to Göteborg!”

Pam Fredman Chancellor, the University of Gothenburg

“Göteborg has become a world-class city

for events. This is where Göteborg & Co

has played a key role, with its professional

approach and strong personal commit-

ment. It gives our conferences and other

events gravitas and polish. What I remem-

ber most in 2008 was Student08, during

which we worked closely with Göteborg &

Co. The aim is to welcome all new univer-

sity students to Göteborg and give them

the opportunity to make new contacts.

Student08 was a great success.”

Richard Fredriksson Director, Quality Hotel Panorama,

Chairman of Storhotellgruppen

“2008 was a year of big events. The World

Figure Skating Championships were a

magnificent success at what is normally

a quiet period in the hotel business. Then

there were the two concerts with Bruce

Springsteen and one with Iron Maiden,

which drew capacity audiences in the

summer. Way Out West also made a big

contribution in August. Göteborg & Co is

the glue that holds the city together, by

working closely with all the parties invol-

ved to strengthen Göteborg as an interna-

tionally significant destination for events,

exhibitions and conferences.”

Voices from industry

Thomas Johansson Chairman of the Board of Live Nation

“It’s always a smooth process working

with Göteborg & Co and the city of Göte-

borg when it comes to events. The estab-

lished network of contacts with the city’s

administrations means that words are

easily translated into action, which is es-

sential in our business. The events I re-

member most of all in 2008 were the two

sell-out concerts with Bruce Springsteen.

The concerts and shows mean it’s always

busy and it’ll be the same in 2009. Göte-

borg is my favourite city in every way!”

Tom Johnstone CEO, SKF

“What I recall from 2008 was the meas-

ures to spread awareness of environmen-

tal and climate issues. The meeting with

Al Gore, when he was presented with the

Göteborg Prize, was handled very profes-

sionally. From my viewpoint the Bruce

Springsteen concert at Ullevi was a high-

light. Göteborg & Co does an important

job in continuously developing Göteborg

as an attractive place, especially for those

of us who live and work here, both com-

panies and individuals. Another important

part of this work is marketing Göteborg to

the world, so that more people discover

the benefits of our ‘little big city’”.

G Ö T E B O R G – C I T Y O F P A R T N E R S H I P S

Göteborg & Co’s business idea is to be a

leading platform for collaboration in the

development of Göteborg as a destination.

This has proven to be a successful business

idea. Several representatives of trade and

industry give their views below.

63

Stefan Karlsson Restaurateur, Restaurang Fond

“The event I remember most from 2008

is the STCC race at Bananpiren, when we

served up 5,500 portions of food within

a few hours. Göteborg Restaurant Associ-

ation enables our industry to collaborate

and make Göteborg even more competi-

tive as an events city. The collaboration

that has resulted in a vocational training

course at Burgården upper secondary

school is a good example. The training lev-

el is being improved so that we can take

the food culture to the next level. The

exchange of restaurant staff with other

Euro pean cities within the Delice organ-

isation makes a very valuable contribu-

tion to this work.”

Joakim Kenndal Communications Director, Stena Line

“The whole calendar of events, big and

small, attracts Swedes, Danes and Ger-

mans to Göteborg. These activities are in-

credibly important. A Christmas Göte borg,

on which we work together, and Way Out

West are two excellent ex amples. Perma-

nent attractions such as the Universeum

Science Discovery Centre persuade Swe-

des to choose Göteborg as their depar-

ture city when they fly out to Europe.”

64

Anders Larsson Director, Nordstan shopping centre

Representative of Cityföreningen trade

association

“Over the last few years we have seen a

number a successes at weekends, mostly

due to the growth in tourism. The Sum-

mer City and A Göteborg Christmas activ-

ities are good examples of how working

together can stimulate tourism and make

Göteborg more attractive as a shopping

city. All the events that take place also

boost Göteborg’s attraction as a shopp ing

thoroughfare. Göteborg & Co is the

motor behind the growth of collaboration

in Göte borg.”

Bengt Linde Restaurateur, Babar Restaurang,

Chairman of Göteborg Restaurant

Association

“2008 was a fantastic year. Each year

Göteborg seems to outdo itself. For ex-

ample, A Göteborg Christmas gets better

every year. It was also great to get the edit-

ors of the world’s newspapers here. Our

strength lies in working together. We don’t

complicate things, but allow everyone to

voice their opinion and then bring all ideas

together to reach quick and sensible deci-

sions. Göteborg wouldn’t be the place it is

today without Göteborg & Co.”

Carlo Mandini Director of Elite Plaza Hotel & Elite Park

Avenue Hotel

“Collaboration between Göteborg & Co

and our hotels and restaurants is a very

important factor for success, since they

always look at the whole picture in order

to make Göteborg the ultimate destina-

tion for events, conferences, individual

visitors, cultural events, etc. The hotels

and restaurants are still free to compete

for market share. On the business front,

I think that the WAN conference was an

excellent event that allowed Göteborg to

show off its abilities as a conference city.”

Leif Mannerström Restaurateur, Sjömagasinet

“What I remember most in 2008 are the

many big trade fairs and events, espe-

cially Bruce Springsteen. Göteborg & Co

means a great deal to the restaurant in-

dustry in the city. They do a very success-

ful job of attracting people to the city, and

that provides an important customer base

for the restaurants.”

Mats Nilsson Vice President AB Volvo,

Chairman of the Trade & Industry Group

“Co-operation between Göteborg & Co

and trade in the city through the Trade

& Industry Group are tremendously im-

portant. Göteborg & Co is active in many

areas that help make Göteborg an attrac-

tive place for people to live and for com-

panies to do business. It’s important that

there is a rich variety of culture and other

experiences of different types in the city.

I’d also like to stress the importance of

striving to keep our skills at the highest

level. Activities such as the International

Science Festival and the events for stu-

dents lay the foundation for this. Good

universities and colleges attract students

here, and making this an exciting city con-

vinces them to stay. The high skill level

then brings more companies here. It ben-

efits everyone, business and residents.”

Markus Odenstad Director, Hotel Royal,

Chairman of the Association of Göteborg

Hotels

“We feel reassured by having a close rela-

tionship with Göteborg & Co, which looks

after the interests of the region in such

a simple, clear and concrete way. As a

co-owner in Göteborg & Co our member

hotels have a mutual interest in the mar-

keting of the region and ensuring that the

resources of Göteborg are used to the full.

The good occupancy figures for our hotels

in recent years are clear proof that they

are doing a fine job!”

G Ö T E B O R G – C I T Y O F P A R T N E R S H I P S

Network for promoting mutual interests

Göteborg & Co is a partner in several important networks, both national and international:

Storstadsgruppen (City Group) is a partnership between tour-ism organisations in Göteborg, Malmö and Stockholm.

The GO collaboration is a Nor-wegian-Swedish partnership between the municipalities of Oslo, Akershus, Østfold, the city of Göteborg and the Västra Götaland Region.

Göteborg is a member of a vari-ety of networks for the devel-opment of destination tourism, along with several major Euro-pean city destinations:

European Cities Marketing, the most influential network for tourism in Europe. Around 130 of the biggest European cities are members.

International Congress & Con-vention Association, ICCA, is a worldwide organisation.

65

Olle Sundin Airport Director, Göteborg

Landvetter Airport

“Collaboration with Göteborg & Co is vital

for the attraction of more popular air

routes to Göteborg and the west of

Sweden. The fact that Göteborg Land vetter

Airport is working with the city and the re-

gion gives us better potential to influence

the destinations that are accessible from

the region. Göteborg & Co and the LFV

Group are pioneers in the field of gathering

a strong team made up of both destination

developers and the air travel sector. Many

others are starting to follow our lead.”

Håkan Thörnström Restaurateur, Thörnströms kök

“Collaboration and an open dialogue be-

tween us and Göteborg & Co benefits us

as an individual restaurant business, and

the overall impression of Göteborg as a

competitive, high-quality restaurant city.”

Petter Ullberg Deputy Managing Director,

Swedish Exhibition Centre

“You could say that the Swedish Exhibi-

tion Centre has a symbiotic relationship

with Göteborg & Co. As we continue to ex-

pand our conference and exhibition cap-

acity we can offer continuously improving

facilities that Göteborg & Co can offer in

turn to national and international confer-

ence organisers, and the more events and

visitors we get, the better the resources

we have to further improve the standard

of our venues. The fact that this partner-

ship has worked so well over the years

demonstrates its value very clearly.”

Mats Wedin President, Liseberg

“From the viewpoint of Liseberg it is the

successes of Christmas at Liseberg and A

Göteborg Christmas that I remember and

think about. In an autumn when the na-

tional economy slumped dramatically, the

successes of November and December

were exceptional achievements, with fig­

ures even higher than in 2007, which was

a record year itself. This is great confirma-

tion of the quality of our products and our

partnership! Collaboration between the

city’s parks and Göteborg & Co also

raised the profile of Göteborg as a green

city. Göteborg & Co has a very positive

effect on our business. Over the past

couple of decades our approach has had

a unique influence in encouraging people

to work together in the tourism industry.

In the future I believe that by working as a

collaborative platform for Destination

Göteborg, we and Göteborg & Co will

serve as an example for destination

development in Scandinavia.”

66

T H E G Ö T E B O R G B R A N D

Göteborg in the media

Göteborg & Co’s Media Centre provides

services to journalists from all over the

world in those areas where Göteborg &

Co is active. We organise press days, at

which we inform people about the city and

arrange guided tours.

Independently and in collaboration

with Visit Sweden, the West Sweden Tour-

ism Board, airlines and other partners, we

also invite foreign journalists from daily

newspapers, magazines and television

companies to come here and produce re-

ports about the city. Each year we arrange

visits for around 200 foreign journalists,

mostly from Norway, Denmark, Great Brit-

ain, Germany and Italy, but we also get

visits from countries such as the USA, Chi-

na and Japan.

We also arrange press activities ab-

road.

In 2008, events such as the World Fig-

ure Skating Championships, Gardens of

Göteborg and A Göteborg Christmas re-

sulted in good editorial exposure for the

city’s brand. Our commitment to the tele-

vision medium bore fruit. The four films

linked to A Göteborg Christmas that were

posted on the NewsMarket news portal

were downloaded a total of 108 times by

around 60 television companies in 33

countries. It is estimated that they were

watched by a total of over 10 million tele-

vision viewers.

The way that Göteborg is described in

newspapers, magazines, on television,

radio and on websites in Sweden and

abroad has a big influence on the city’s

brand. In Sweden and the rest of Scan-

dinavia, Göteborg is well known as an

attractive tourist city. In the international

market, especially Europe, there is a great

deal to gain from spreading awareness of

the city and the region.

Here is a selection of quotes from the

international press in 2008.

Made in Sweden

Gothenburg’s glorious Garden Festival

showcases the best of modern, naturalistic

planting styles. Stephen Lacey is impressed.

The Daily Telegraph, UK

Claws! – Sarah Lucas nips off to Sweden

on a lobster safari

Stefan Karlsson is Sweden’s Jamie Oliver.

Though he has cooked for Nobel Prize

dinners, he wants to “inspire schools to do

good food with the little money they have”.

He’s an evangelist for traditional food.

The Mail on Sunday, UK

Take a chance on Sweden

The Myth: Sweden is cold, wet, expensive

– especially the food and drink – and over-

flowing with blond ice maidens. Reality: Yes,

there are lot’s of pretty blonds, and that’s just

the men. Swedes do things simply and well

– think of Volvo, IKEA and Aga cookers.

They laugh a lot, rarely ware ties or high

heels and don’t do garish and hoardings,

graffiti or litter. And their cooking is dyna-

mite – another Swedish invention, by the

way.

Sainsbury’s magazine, UK

Style and substance

Swedes are ineffably polite, civic-minded,

friendly (in a grown-up, unclingy sort of way)

and have a dry sense of humour. They are

simultaneously fiercely sophisticated and

disarmingly informal. And speak English

better than most contemporary BBC broad-

casters.

The Irish Times, Irland

Es grünt so grün in Göteborg

In Schwedens zweitgrösster Stadt laufen

Gartendesigner aus aller Welt zu Hochform

auf. Neben all den Möglichkeiten zum

Kulturerleben, Shoppen, Ausgehen gibt es

da noch Göteborgs grüne Seele. Gärten und

Parks pflastern die Stadt, überall finden sich

Plätze, wo man sich auf Bänken oder auf der

Wiese liegend den Versprechungen der Natur

überlässt.

Saarbrucker Zeitung, Tyskland

Göteborg nyter smaken av suksess

For 35 år sidenvar Göteborgs fremste kultu-

relle eksportartikkel en skraphandel drevet

av Albert&Herbert. I dag er Sveriges nest

störste by et skoleeksempel på at samarbeidet

mellom näringsliv og kulturliv kan gi en by

et nytt image i en moderne opplevelse-

ökonomi. Blant de mange som nå nyter

smaken av suksess, er byens stjernekokker.

Kultmag, Norge

67

48 Stunden in… Göteborg

(Spezialitäten und Souvenirs:) Typisch

Göteborg? Keine Frage, frischer Fish!Weil

der im handgepäck aber nicht ganz so viel

Freude macht, wie wäre es stattdessen mit

Schwedens nationalgetränk, Kaffee?

Die Welt, Tyskland

Waterstad Göteborg

Snel last van heimwee? Ga dan naar een

plaats die door haar verleden een Hollandse

sfeer ademt. De gezellige singelgracht en de

kanalen doen meteen denken aan een van

onze eigen vestingsteden.

Allgemeen Dagblad, Holland

Göteborg – a misure d’uomo

Göteborg si è reinventata il futuro. A misura

d’uomo, in modo intraprendente e accat-

tivante, con fantasia. La città è raccolta e

poco estesa: basta mezz’ora per attravarsarla

da un capo all-altro in tram.

Qui Touring, Italien

Super shopping i Göteborg

Storby, shopping og champagne – og påfyll

av mat og kultur. Deretter enda mer

shopping. Jenteturen blir en sikker suksess

i Göeborg.

Norsk Ukeblad, Norge

Glade jul i glade Göteborg

Vaer så god – gaver, opplevelser, mat og

drikke. Göteborg er byen som tar julen på

alvor, i alle gater og parker er det pyntet för

höytid. Byen bugner av aktiviteter for hele

familien, jul på Liseberg er bare en av mange

nu i desember. Selv liker jeg å oppholde meg

sentralt i byen, og spesielt er gatene rundt

Kungstorget å fortrekke når julegavene skal

handles inn.

Ute og Hjemme magasin, Norge

Swedish Safari

Creations by Europe’s top designers make

Sweden’s Gardens of Gothenburg Exhibition

a must-see. You don’t need to take a crash

course in Swedish to understand the Swedes

– just visit their gardens…. Yet what’s in store

at the festival is much more than a look at the

glorious past of Swedish garden design but

rather an eyeful of Swedish minimalist cool.

Garden Design, USA

Delight in four wonderful gardens

If you want to see some of the best examples

of garden art and design then Göteborg is the

place to be this summer. Garden architects

from Sweden and abroad have created pleas-

ure gardens of the highest quality in the city.

Lifestyle section in Expressen newspaper

68

Anders LarssonRepr Cityföreningen tra-de association, Director of Marketing Nordstan

Mats NilssonChairman Trade and Industry Group, Vice President AB Volvo

Gunnel Aho (Vice Chairman), Party District Secretary (Con.)City of Göteborg

Göran Johansson (Chairman), Chairman of Göteborg City Execu-tive Board (Soc. Dem)

Bengt Linde Chairman of Göteborg Restaurant Association

Göran Bengtsson(co­opted), Deputy County Governor of Västra Götaland

Börje Rådesjö Head of Education, Goth-enburg Region Associa-tion of Local Authorities

Richard FredrikssonChairman, the Associa-tion of Large Hotels

Lars Rehnman,(co­opted) Managing Director, Universeum

Olle Sundin(co­opted) Managing Director, Göteborg Land-vetter Airport

Lennart MankertManaging Director, The Swedish Exhibition Centre

Lennart Olausson, Managing Director, Business Region Göteborg AB

Claes BjerkneManaging Director, Göteborg & Co

Joacim CarlssonVice President West Swe-den Chamber of Commer-ce and Industry

Mats WedinManaging Director, Liseberg AB

Networking leads to motivation, ideas and new projects

Over the past few decades Göteborg has steadily raised its standing

as Sweden’s leading city and an attractive European alternative for

conferences, events and tourism. One factor that has contributed

to this success is the way we work. Because the board is made up

of representatives from the tourism industry, trade and industry

as a whole, the municipality and the region, and we also have

steering groups for meetings, events, tourism and collaboration

with industry, it provides many different opportunities for formal

and informal meetings between people. On the following pages we

introduce the board and the steering groups.

Björn SandmarkHead of Cultural Affairs, City of Göteborg

Thomas TorkelssonManaging Director, Got Event AB

Sabine Söndergaard Secretary of the Board, President Law & Solution

Claes Berglund Route Director, Stena Line AB

Markus Oddestad Chairman of the Association of Göteborg Hotels

Siw FranzénStaff representative, Göteborg & Co

N A M E S A N D F A C E S

GÖTEBORG & CO: BOARD OF DIRECTORS

69

Olle SundinGöteborg Landvetter Airport

Bo AronssonGöteborg Region Associ-ation of Local Authorities

Mats BerghChalmers University of Technology

Mats Dynevik Skanska

Siv Bondenäs-Brink The University of Gothenburg

Eric NilssonThe Port of Göteborg

Joakim Kenndal Stena Line

Johnolof OlssonThe Gothenburg Trade Association

Carita Kalén Swedbank

Lars O Carlsson NCC

Mats Nilsson Volvo Chairman

Mats EngströmNordea

Ola RönnAstraZeneca

Bjorn Thorsteinsrud Handelsbanken

Henrik BrättemarkPosten

Claes Bjerkne Göteborg & CoVice Chairman

Magnus ErsmanSwedish Property Federation Göteborg

Claes LarsssonTeliaSonera

Birgitta L-Öfverholm Göteborg & Co

Petter UllbergThe Swedish Exhibition Centre

Bengt Magnusson Volvo Cars Sweden

Lennart Olausson Business Region Göteborg

Malin Engelbrecht Castellum

Ann-Charlotte Widén SAS

Bengt G JohanssonSCA Hygiene Products

Lennart SondénSEB

Gunilla Ekholtz Nobel Biocare

Ingalill Östman SKF

BUSINESS AREA Meetings

BUSINESS AREALeisure Travel

BUSINESS AREAEvents

CONCEPT & SUPPORT Trade & Industry Group

SUPPORT FUNCTION Economy, Legal A�airs,

Administration

SUPPORT FUNCTION Visitor Service

SUPPORT FUNCTION Marketing

Communications

MD

MARKET

Board of Directors

SUPPORT FUNCTION Media Centre

SUPPORT FUNCTION Research and Development

STEERING COMMITTEE GÖTEBORG & CO TRADE AND INDUSTRY GROUP

70

N A M E S A N D F A C E S

Cajsa EngströmGöteborg & Co

Carina HalvordUniverseum

Jerker Dellblad the Association of Large Hotels

Mats WedinLiseberg

Kristian Andreasson-the Association of Large Hotels

Charlotte Ljunggren Stena Line

Pelle JohannissonLiseberg

Bert Saluäär Association of Göteborg Hotels

Claes Bjerkne Göteborg & CoChairman

Lotta Vahlne-Westerhäll University of Gothen-burg/School of Business, Economics and Law

Lennart MankertThe Swedish Exhibition Centre, Vice Chairman

Håkan BeskowCity of Göteborg

Johan CarlstenChalmers University of Technology

Claes BjerkneGöteborg & CoChairman

Christer Johansson Göteborg Restaurant Association

Ninni LidénSJ

Björn RydevikUniversity of Gothenburg, Sahlgrenska University Hospital

Lena Stävmo The LFV Group

Magnus Hallberg the Association of Large Hotels

Malin Franckthe Association of Large Hotels

Torkild BerglundSAS

Ulrica Cramby Göteborg Convention Centre

Terese Wibeck Association of Göteborg Hotels

Lennart Johansson-Göteborg & Co

Marie Jacobsson Congrex

Henrik Svensson MCI

STEERING COMMITTEE GÖTEBORG & CO MEETINGS

STEERING COMMITTEE GÖTEBORG & CO LEISURE TRAVEL

71

Jerker Dellbladthe Association of Large HotelsNovotel Göteborg

Ronnie HallgrenGöteborg City Theatre

Bert SaluäärThe association of Göteborg Hotels

Lennart Blimanthe Association of Large HotelsFirst Hotell

Claes BjerkneGöteborg & CoChairman

Peter HanssonGöteborg Opera House

Mats WedinLiseberg

Thomas TorkelssonGot Event

Petter UllbergThe Swedish Exhibition Centre

Björn SandmarkGöteborg Culture Committee

Therese BrusbergGöteborg & Co

Leif NilssonGöteborg & Co

Birgitta L-ÖfverholmGöteborg & Co

Ed SmithGöteborg Concert Hall

Anna FalckGöteborg Book Fair

Claes BjerkneCEO

Leif NilssonVice CEO, Director Events

Cajsa Engström Manager Leisure Travel

Annelie Karlsson Manager Visitor Service

Lars ÅhrmanManager Administration

Camilla NymanManager Business Development

Lennart Johansson ManagerMeetings

Gunilla HammerManager Finance, Legal Affairs & Administration

Ossian Stiernstrand Manager Research and Development

Stefan GaddManager Media Centre

Agneta Forshufvud Manager Marketing Communications

Birgitta L-ÖfverholmManager Trade and Industry Group

N A M E S A N D F A C E S

MANAGEMENT GÖTEBORG & CO

STEERING COMMITTEE GÖTEBORG & CO EVENTS

72

Reassignment of roles for Göteborg & Co and Got Event Göteborg Municipal Executive Board has

approved a change in the responsib-

ilities of Göteborg & Co and Got Event.

Each company’s responsibilities have

been defined by their owners in an owner-

ship directive and shareholders’ agree-

ment, respectively. This reassignment

of roles between Göteborg & Co and Got

Event means that Göteborg & Co will be

responsible for business relations, plan-

ning, marketing and associated sponsor-

ship activities that are connected with the

city’s events activities.

Got Event AB will be responsible for the

management of arenas and, when re-

quested, for the hosting of events, as well

as carrying out arena activities that are

not assigned to another organisation.

Reorganisation of premises

Göteborg & Co rents premises from the

Swedish Exhibition Centre. Over the past

year these premises have been com-

pletely refurbished, primarily to adapt

them to suit our project-based working

approach. In addition to 80 permanent

staff, the organisation also employs

around 500 people each year on short-

term or long-term projects. Although the

average number of project staff in any

given day is considerably lower than this

figure, the new layout of the premises

makes it much eas ier to adapt to changes

in the number of people using rooms.

Roles of the various departments at Göteborg & CoManagement

Responsible for the overall, long-term,

strategic task of developing Göteborg as a

destination. Encompasses business plan-

ning, brand-building, market analysis and

competitor analysis, international net-

works and strategic agreements with sel-

ected partners.

Management is also responsible for over-

all business development and selected

strategic projects, such as GöteborgPlus,

Delice, the Flights project and the Cen-

tre for Tourism at the School of Business,

Economics and Law, etc.

The CEO also has overall responsibility for

all staff.

Number of employees: 3

Manager: CEO

Business Area Meetings

Göteborg Convention Bureau (GCB) is the

international name of the unit within

Göteborg & Co that handles meetings.

Focusing on the future

The purpose of its work is to attract more

congresses, exhibitions, conferences and

corporate meetings to Göteborg. Göte-

borg & Co acts as a link between meeting

organisers and local companies in the

meetings industry, as well as local de-

cision-makers. Collaboration agreements

have been drawn up with over 90 member

companies that represent the tourism

industry in Göteborg.

In 2005–2008 Göteborg & Co was also

commissioned by the West Sweden Tour-

ism Board to conduct promotional activ-

ities in universities and organisations in

western Sweden, with the aim of increas-

ing the number of meetings held in the

region. This project is financed by the

Västra Götaland Region.

Number of employees: 11

Manager: Lennart Johansson

Business Area Leisure travel

Göteborg & Co takes long-term initiatives

to market, package and sell Göteborg as

a destination. Göteborg & Co runs cam-

paigns that are primarily aimed at the

Swedish and Scandinavian markets, but

increasingly targets the rest of northern

and southern Europe.

Göteborg & Co collaborates in its market-

ing activities with hotels, carriers, Lise-

T H I S I S H O W W E W O R K

Over the course of 2008 we initiated and

implemented several large change projects

to better equip ourselves for the future. A

business plan for the period 2009–2011

was drawn up during the year. After sev-

eral years of work we were able to agree the

foundation for our brand-building work

and put together a set of tools in prepara-

tion for the launch in 2009. As a direct

consequence of this work we also began a

review of the company’s graphic profile.

Another big development project is the

creation of a new version of the goteborg.

com website. Refurbishment work was also

carried out on our offices in 2008.

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berg, the Universeum Science Discovery

Centre, Stena Line, Göteborg Opera

House, Got Event, museums, theatres,

sightseeing companies, restaurants,

trade and industry, events organisers, etc.

Antalet medarbetare: 9

Chef: Cajsa Engström

Business Area Events

Göteborg & Co works to make Göteborg

one of the leading events cities in Europe.

We do this by contributing to a rich and

diverse range of events in Göteborg, with

the aim of making the city an even more

attractive place to live in, work in and vi-

sit. This is done by attracting new events,

supporting and developing regular events,

assisting and collaborating with arena

own ers and organisers in connection with

event organisation, and providing services

such as project management and prod-

ucing our own events.

Number of employees: 20

Manager: Leif Nilsson

Trade & Industry Group

Göteborg & Co’s Trade & Industry Group

is a platform for collaboration between

trade and industry, organisations, region-

al municipalities and universities, that is

intended to make Göteborg stronger and

more competitive. The goal is to help Gö-

teborg become one of the most welcom-

ing and attractive metropolitan regions

in Europe to live in, work in and visit. Our

activities centre on trade and industry,

learning and events. The group includes

around twenty large companies in addi-

tion to the City of Göteborg, the Associ-

ation of Local Authorities for the Göteborg

region, Business Region Göteborg, Chal-

mers University of Technology and the

University of Gothenburg.

Number of employees: 4

Manager: Birgitta L-Öfverholm

Research & Development

As part of the strategic task of destination

development there is a constant need to

extend our knowledge. Our organisation

had a research and development unit for

many years. In 2002 this unit formed a

separate spin-off company, the Swedish

Research Institute of Tourism.

The Swedish Research Institute of Tour-

ism is a long-term collaborative partner

that focuses on strategic destination dev-

elopment issues. Each year it performs a

number of special analyses, surveys and

studies relating to various events and att-

ractions. The Swedish Research Institute

of Tourism shares premises with the Cen-

tre for Tourism at the School of Business,

Economics and Law, at the University of

Gothenburg – the Nordic region’s fore-

most centre for education and research

into tourism and the visitor industry. The

general aim is to raise the level of know-

ledge about tourism as a subject through-

out Sweden, which in turn should play

an important role in raising the status of

tour ism as an industry.

Number of employees: 1

Project manager: Ossian Stiernstrand

Media Centre

Göteborg & Co works to promote interest

in Göteborg as a destination in national

and international media. This is done

through press visits, the Gothenburg TV

Commission, news and the website home

page.

The Media Centre also acts as a service

unit for Göteborg & Co’s other business

areas, and for key collaborative partners.

Activities include planning and implemen-

tation of targeted press activities, follow-

up work and analysis.

Number of employees: 4

Manager: Stefan Gadd

T H I S I S H O W W E W O R K

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Marketing Communications

In autumn, Göteborg & Co set up a special

unit for marketing communications. An

in-house bureau and web bureau handle

design and production of the company’s

communications through printed and dig-

ital channels. This is done on commis-

sion by, and in consultation with, the

company’s various business areas.

The in-house bureau produces graphics

and is responsible for contacts with out-

side consultants in this field, such as ad-

vertising agencies and printers. The unit

also handles the marketing of events, pre-

viously managed by Got Event.

The web bureau specialises in the use of

digital channels, particularly the Inter-

net. The bureau is responsible for the pro-

duction of Göteborg’s official destination

guide at goteborg.com. The web bureau

also produces a number of campaign sites

each year. Goteborg.com plays a central

role in the task of developing and exploit-

ing information technology. The web has

become an increasingly important channel

for information and bookings as the num-

ber of online visitors has grown. Extensive

development work is underway to develop

a new version of goteborg.com.

Number of employees: 8

Manager: Agneta Forshufvud

Visitor Service

Göteborg & Co endeavours to offer vis-

itors an internationally competitive vis-

itor service. Operations are run by the

Göteborg Tourist Information Centres at

Kungsportsplatsen and in Nordstan

Shopping Centre.

The Tourist Information Centres provide

information on attractions and events,

book accommodation, and sell souvenirs

and tickets for round trips and outings.

Brochures provide visitor information at

some 80 strategic locations including ar-

rival terminals, hotels and campsites. The

call centre books the GöteborgPackage,

hotel rooms, and school trip packages.

It also provides guides and bus arrange-

ments.

Number of employees: 17

Manager: Annelie Karlsson

Finance, HR, Legal

This unit is intended to support the

company’s business areas and service

units, in order to optimise the company’s

activities in terms of costs, efficiency,

skills and quality. The department also

works to promote cost awareness and

economy-mindedness throughout the or-

ganisation. A reliable and cost-effective IT

platform serves as a tool for these inter-

nal processes.

Number of employees: 9

Manager: Lars Åhrman

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We’re investing i Göteborg!

77

Production: www.olssonlindgren.se Photos: Anders Palmnäs, Andreas Hillergren, Anna Hult, Anna Mjörnvik, Bert Leandersson, Björn Olsson, Brinkhoff/Moegenburg, Dan Ljungsvik, David Andersson, Dick Gillberg, Emma Andrea, Gunilla Persson, Göran Assner, Göran Olofsson, Hannu Sarenström, Hans Wretling, Henrik Larsson, Hotel Gothia Towers, Ingmar Jernberg, Jenny Lööf, Johan Ljungström/SR, Jonas Ingman, Jorma Valkonen, Kjell Holmner, Leif Gustafsson, Lisa Barryd, Lisa Brunnström, Lisa Nestorson, Liseberg, Mats Bäcker, Mikael Almse, Mikael Lammgård, Patrik Gunnar Helin, Philip Ljungström, Ragnar Lång, Rolf Andersson, Rolf Hallin, Sjömagasinet, Stadsteatern, Stefan Karlberg, Textilmuseet i Borås, Thomas Harrysson, Tristan Jones, www.svenskfisk.se, Åsa Dahlgren Printing: Göteborgstryckeriet.

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www.goteborg.com

Göteborg & Co Mässans gata 8 Box 29 SE-401 20 Göteborg Sweden tel. +46 (0)31-368 40 00 fax +46 (0)31-81 10 48 info@goteborg.com