Writing these lines, I am very aware that my train of thought runs on parallel tracks. And has been, for the last week. For me and everyone working at Liseberg, there will always be a before and after February 12, 2024. The tragic fire that broke out at Liseberg’s almost finished water park Oceana consumed most of the building over the following four days. And with the fire, we lost a most-loved colleague of ours. A loss of life puts […]
Thank you for all the kind messages over the last few days. I can speak for everyone working at Liseberg, that we are shocked and deeply saddened by the fire at Oceana on February 12th, 2024. With the fire, we lost a most-loved colleague of ours. And all our thoughts are with his family, and everyone who was part of his life. There are many who wonder, what happens now? The simple answer is that we don’t know. Right now, […]
2023 has proven to be another strange year. Not bad, really. Not good either. Just … strange. In this post-pandemic market, we have all been discussing what the ‘new normal’ is. Was it the 2021 market, with strong domestic demand, and very little travelling? Was it the 2022 market, where everyone had money to spend – and spent it on experiences? Or will it be the 2023 market, where it feels like gravity is returning, and the pendulum is swinging […]
Liseberg has made it through a world war, economic crisis, devastating fires and most recently a pandemic. And we are still here. Monday this week, we celebrated our 100th anniversary. One hundred. I am not a big fan of anniversaries – no matter what is being celebrated. In our industry, it is often a commercial trick used to give an otherwise outdated product a nicer packaging. Or a way to celebrate our own attributes and brilliance. I don’t really like […]
The years 2020 and 2021 will go down in history as the years that changed the way we look at life, freedom, globalization, trade, travel, work, togetherness. We realized how fragile everything we had taken for granted is. And even though we’ve risen – as individuals, companies, societies – the years have left scars that are hard to cover. But now, with the pandemic in the rear-view mirror, I can’t help but reflect on how the pandemic in many ways […]
High pressure. High Season. High stress. But this year, it is … different. Normally I am shuffling around weather apps, worrying about the all-too-unstable Scandinavian summer weather during the all-too-short peak season. But in 2022, it is all turned upside down. With continued (self-imposed) capacity restrictions, we are constantly trying to balance volume, turnover, and guest satisfaction. This also means, that having too many guests is actually just as stressful, as having too few. Most attractions in the LBE sector […]
In 2012, the European Union proposed that larger and listed companies should fill at least 40% of board seats with women. This proposal has been stuck for almost 10 years but seems now to be getting a second wind. As someone who hates quotas, I am somewhat divided on this proposal. But the problem is quotas seem to work. And maybe it is the least bad among bad tools to create more inclusive and diverse leadership of major companies. I […]
Halloween, check. I am going to miss meeting evil clowns in the staff restaurant and zombies on my way to HR. But in a few weeks, Christmas choirs and elves will move into the hallways. Paper snow will stick to my shoes everywhere I go, and carols will be playing in a loop outside my office, driving me crazy. However, it is also that special time of year that every economist looks forward to. Budget time. Which is a rather […]
Sometimes you don’t know what you’ve got till it’s gone. In these times of COVID-19, I think all of us have these types of insights. What we took for granted is no longer an absolute – a truism. This is not in every case a bad thing, as our expectations and values need a calibration now and then. But it can also be challenging. Especially when you actually knew what you had, but never thought you would lose it. At […]
Is it possible to be very happy – and very sad at the same time? To feel overwhelmingly relieved, but at the same time extremely frustrated? I believe so. If nothing else, the pandemic has challenged us all with the need for dialectic thinking. Understanding that two things can be true at the same time. That we are not navigating in black and white, in a landscape of absolutes. But instead recognizing, that we are – for the most part […]
