Cross-border trade was affected by the pandemic. Now it is affected by the fact that it is expensive for Swedes to go over to Denmark and shop. A Danish krone cost 1.56 Swedish kronor at the end of May. Ten years earlier, it cost 1.16.
"Now it's not worth buying liquor and things like this," says Majvor Palm, who travelled by ferry from Helsingborg to Helsingør with her husband.
Like many other travellers, they have previously shopped significantly more in Danish stores.
Karl-Åke and Majvor Palm think it is too expensive in Helsingør. Photo: Gunilla Fritze/SVT
More people choose to eat and drink
The shop owners and restaurants in Helsingør try to attract Swedish customers and guests with various offers.
"We notice that they shop less, but that they come here to eat and drink," says Piet Petersen.
He has never before experienced the Swedish krona being so low in relation to the Danish krona.
Benefiting from coupling to the euro
The Danish krone is pegged to the euro while the Swedish krona is variable. This is part of the explanation behind the current relationship between the Danish and Swedish krone, says the Öresund Institute, which analyses and monitors developments in the region.
– We notice that Danes shop more, eat more and stay in hotels, says Hanna Candell, CEO of Helsingborg City.
There are also Danes who go to Sweden to fix their teeth and buy sun and regular glasses.
– We usually buy sweets and clothes when we come here, says Michael Simonsen, who is a teacher and on an excursion in Helsingborg with a school class. The children like that their Danish money is enough for a lot of sweets.