600,000 a year. That's how many visitors Gothenburg is expected to lose after the fire at the Oceana water park. The consequences will be felt throughout the region, believes Johan Trouvé, CEO of the West Sweden Chamber of Commerce.

The opening was supposed to be one of the biggest events of the year in Gothenburg. Instead, large parts of the water park lie in ruins and the opening has been postponed.

”"Oceana was a very important part of the Gothenburg destination. It would make Liseberg a year-round destination and the pool would bring around 600,000 new visits," says Peter Grönberg, CEO of the municipal company Göteborg & Co, which owns Liseberg, among other things.

What the lost revenue will cost the city is difficult to calculate, according to Grönberg.

”"We are not getting the addition we would have liked and it could be tough for the new experience hotel next door, but we will have to come back to what this costs in terms of tourism. Now we are concentrating on getting started again as soon as possible," he says. 

Johan Trouvé, CEO of the West Sweden Chamber of Commerce, guesses that it involves large future amounts that have gone up in smoke.

”"You sleep over, fill up the car, maybe go over to Universeum and maybe buy a hot dog. If you multiply that by half a million, it becomes a large amount. But no one individual loses this money, it's spread across the entire region," he says. 

But there is unlikely to be a crisis for the tourism industry. Johan Trouvé points out that Gothenburg's many new hotels are already fully booked and that the city has more new tourist attractions in the pipeline.

”"World of Volvo opens in April and this summer Karlatornet's bar and restaurant will open on the 70th floor. Gothenburg is the number one tourist city in Sweden, which had the highest hotel occupancy in the country last summer," he says.

Source: TT-DI.SE