It's both: There must be money for nursing homes, schools, special services - and Naturkraft

Rune Nissen Christensen asks in a letter to the editor in Dagbladet, why the municipality should spend more money on Naturkraft? I can't answer on behalf of the mayor or the city council. But for my own part, as museum director, I can answer that - like you - I would very much like to see a future municipality that can take good care of the elderly in nursing homes and that can ensure as many schools and special offers for school children as possible.

That's precisely why Ringkøbing Fjord Museums makes a big effort to create communication that attracts tourists. Because in my opinion, it's not an either/or situation. It's all connected! Tourism is one of the largest industries in the municipality, and growing. Over 600 billion is earned every year through tourism in the municipality. Tourists come for the nature, yes. But they come almost as much to visit museums and enjoy local cultural experiences. If we want to make the most out of every tourist, we need to attract more "cultural tourists", as studies show that they put more money into municipal coffers than other types of tourists.

Cultural tourists also like to visit outside the high season, and in this way we can secure more year-round jobs in tourism and thus more tax revenue for the municipality. Strong cultural attractions are therefore an indispensable part of one of the municipality's most important industries and sources of income. And that's why the municipality should give money to culture - it's actually an investment in a high level of welfare for local citizens in the future.

Naturkraft is important to preserve, as the foundations have given a lot of money to the place. The foundations help develop many other cultural and local offers in Ringkøbing-Skjern Municipality. That's why we can't give up Naturkraft, because then we will lose their trust in future projects. In addition, Naturkraft is doing well as part of the museum, which is why it was important for the municipality to help so that the museum can continue to run it.

We really want to engage with local citizens, and we had a very well-attended dialog meeting at Naturkraft on December 9. It's a shame you couldn't make it, because the dialog is just easier to have face-to-face, so all facets and nuances of the case can be included.

Link to the opinion piece in the newspaper