ABBA THE MUSEUM CELEBRATES 500,000th VISITOR

ABBA The Museum and the Swedish Music Hall of Fame is welcoming its 500,000^th visitor today, since opening in May 2013. The museum was chosen by international tour operators participating in the TRIP Global Awards as one of the top three destinations in Sweden. With these figures, the museum has greatly surpassed its visitor forecast. And the visitors keep on coming – from all over the world.

Today, Thursday, September 18, ABBA The Museum welcomed its half-millionth visitor. The lucky visitor was Laurence Siby, 38 years, from France but now living in Malta, who received a large congratulations card from the museum’s management team and a unique golden ticket entitling her to complimentary entrance to the museum – for life.

“This is crazy. This must be my lucky day, says Laurence.  Now I will have to come here every year. I am overwhelmed!”

Laurence is on holiday in Stockholm and visited the museum together with her family, husband and two children (10 years and 13 years).

When asked about her favourite ABBA song the whole family started to sing Money, Money, Money and did a couple of dance moves. Their favorite feature in the museum was the 3D illusion where they sang Mamma Mia together with ABBA.

The first year of operations has been a successful one for ABBA The Museum and the Swedish Music Hall of Fame. Visitors from all around the world have been pouring in and the museum has now welcomed its 500,000^th visitor.

“We are proud and humbled by this,” said Mattias Hansson, CEO of the museum. ”Presenting one of the world’s greatest pop music phenomenon to a large audience is a big responsibility. Our job is both to tell the true story, while providing the right setting for ABBA’s fantastic song heritage. It’s the music, the songs, that give us and the visitors that special sense of euphoria and is the museum’s very raison d’être.”

And ABBA’s music is indeed one of the main reasons that people visit the museum. In a recent visitor survey (August 2014) almost every fourth visitor named the music as the reason for his or her visit.

And 8 of 10 say that they rank the interactive attractions in the museum highly: for example being able to sing and dance with ABBA members in the museum’s unique 3D illusion, or trying out ABBA songs in the Polar Studios. The museum’s Waterloo room is also highly ranked by visitors, featuring ABBA’s international breakthrough. Another very popular attraction in the museum is the Gold Room, where originals of many of ABBA’s iconic stage costumes are exhibited. Furthermore, more than 96% of visitors said that they were so pleased with their visit that they would gladly recommend the museum to family and friends.

“Happy visitors is the museum’s main focus and our figures demonstrate that we are doing something right!” said Mattias Hansson.

At the annual Tourist gala in 2013, ABBA The Museum was chosen by international tour operators as one of the top three tourist destinations in Sweden. The award, TRIP Global Award, initiated by the Travel and Tourism Industry in Sweden, makes ABBA The Museum is one of the highest ranked experiences in Sweden for international visitors. The jury comprised international travel operators from the key markets: Denmark, Finland, The Netherlands, Norway, China, Russia, Germany and the USA.