Stockholm's new image.Like any other tourist destination, the city of Stockholm is hungry to get you to come over and spend your hard-earned cash. But its latest effort to attract travellers has infuriated its Scandinavian cousins, Copenhagen and Oslo, writes Gwladys Fouché.
The problem started when the Swedish capital's tourist board recently launched a new campaign, labelling Stockholm "The Capital of Scandinavia". This was like waving a red flag in the face of the Danes and the Norwegians, who see the campaign as another prime example of Swedish arrogance.
"It's a PR trick to market themselves as an important town. Stockholm needs to be seen," the leader of Oslo's city council, Erling Lae, told the Norwegian daily Dagsavisen.
"It is uncollegial, it's borderline rude. Actually, thinking about it, I think it's worse," added the head of a Norwegian association of travel professionals, Hilde C. Solheim, referring to the biggest crime you can commit in a region where teamwork and consensus are respected like gospel.
"The confusion about what is Scandinavia is already big enough for foreigners, without one of the parties making things worse," reckoned the Oslo tourist chief, Tor Sannerud.
The Danes were similarly angry and disappointed. "The message is wrong," Copenhagen's tourist chief, Lars Bernard Jørgensen, told Dagsavisen, adding that Stockholm's attitude is going to hit Scandinavian cooperation when it comes to travel issues. In the past, the three nations came together to market Copenhagen, Oslo and Stockholm as "the capitals of Scandinavia" - a move unlikely to be repeated now.
But the Stockholm tourist board is adamant of its case. Its official campaign website proudly heralds Stockholm as "the largest city in the largest country in the region". "It is also where you find the most multinational companies, the largest stock market and, not least, the most visitors" in Scandinavia.
"Every year the eyes of the world are on Stockholm when the Nobel Prizes are awarded," the site enthuses - glossing over the fact that the Peace Prize, arguably the most important of the Nobels, is handed out in Oslo, not in Stockholm.
Outsiders may think of Scandinavia as the big blob at the cold end of Europe, but Denmark, Norway and Sweden do squabble like siblings over their national differences, like the Scots, the Welsh and the English do.
According to stereotypes, Danes are decadent hedonists, Norwegians are dumb country bumpkins and Swedes are know-it-alls who behave like they own the place. Stockholm's "capital of Scandinavia" campaign is only confirming that view.
