We are Halland not Haaland, says unhappy Swedish tourism director

Misspelling of Haaland undermining tourist board’s efforts

LONDON:

Clumsy-fingered fans of Manchester City striker Erling Haaland are causing a headache for the Swedish tourist board who claim a simple spelling mistake is ruining their attempts to market the delights of coastal province Halland.

Twitter posts in which the Norwegian striker's name is spelt Halland rather than Haaland mean social media users trying to discover the area online are instead directed to endless posts about City's prolific striker.

The problem has got so bad that Visit Halland director Jimmy Sandberg has written an open letter pleading with fans of Haaland and journalists to spell his name correctly. "We are Halland. He is Haaland. The popularity of the football phenomenon is completely suffocating our online presence," he wrote.

"To our despair, we now see that all of our efforts promoting Halland are rapidly being wiped away." According to Visit Halland's website the area is an "idyllic west coast province boasting a rich foodie culture and a wealth of outdoor activities, not least cycling and even surfing."

But instead of stunning photographs of the natural landscape, those searching online see endless photos of City sensation Haaland who has taken the Premier League by storm, scoring 17 goals in his first 11 league games. "

Since Haaland arrived at Manchester City and scored all those goals, we have been overwhelmed by his presence in our hashtags and in search engines," Sandberg told the BBC.