2024: A Successful Year for City Collaboration in Skövde

2024 has been an excellent year for Skövde’s city center. A diverse range of activities and events have attracted visitors and contributed to the city’s vibrancy. The latest Cityindex measurement brings encouraging news with positive figures for commerce, demonstrating that investments in experiences and collaboration yield concrete results.

Impressive Event Lineup

Skövde City Collaboration project-managed ten of their own events, and additionally supported four more. These activities took place in the city center for almost 100 days – meaning visitors could enjoy something approximately every fourth day. Highlights included ghost hunts, restaurant weeks, Christmas markets, and summer activities catering to both children and adults.

Summer Square: A Major Success

The largest event, Summer Square, attracted an impressive 18,000 visitors during the summer – surpassing last year’s 14,000. Over 68 days, children and youth were offered free activities including face painting, crafts, ping pong, skateboarding, hobby horse jumping, and LEGO building.

Innovative New Experience: Skövde Ghost Walk

One of the year’s notable innovations was the premiere of Skövde Ghost Walk, a storytelling tour targeting adults during the autumn break. The event was an immediate success, with tickets selling out in just one week.

Cityindex Reveals Positive Trends

The Cityindex shows Skövde increasing total turnover in the city center across all categories – retail, restaurants, and hotels. Skövde’s city center is growing more than comparable cities and above the Swedish national average.

“Cityindex provides a clear picture of the city center’s health, and it’s gratifying that the positive trend continues after the pandemic. The result confirms that the city center is alive and diverse, with multiple visitor-driving businesses. The rumors of the city center’s death are greatly exaggerated,” says Emma Edqvist, Destination Developer at City Collaboration/Next Skövde.

Collaboration: The Key to Success

In the autumn, two new working groups were established focusing on broader collaboration around city activities and design. Additionally, Young Municipal Developers from Skövde Municipality contributed valuable insights about the current city center and future ideas.

“Through active collaboration within City Collaboration, we create solutions and develop the city center as a place where residents, visitors, and businesses thrive. I feel we’ve taken clear steps forward this year, which is reflected in the positive numbers presented in Cityindex,” says Ramona Nilsson, Sector Manager for Citizen and Community Development.

Main Events in 2024

• Taste of the City – Restaurant Week
• Easter Activities
• Summer Square – Free activities throughout summer vacation
• Electric Car Day
• Autumn Break Activities and Ghost Walk

Source: Original Article