Sweden Tourism in the economy The Swedish tourism industry contributes about 3% to Swedish GDP.

Growth over the years has had a positive impact on employment and new enterprises, especially in sparsely populated areas. The recent global slowdown of the economy has, of course, had a certain impact on the Swedish tourism economy, but not very dramatically. The main reason for this is that in times of crisis in the economy, more Swedish tourists tend to stay at home or close to home, thus keeping the domestic tourism business at a relatively high level. In 2008, domestic tourist nights numbered 38 million, up 0.7% on 2007, although outbound trips also rose by 4.7%, to 13.3 million. The tourism account, taking into consideration both tourism receipts and travel fares, was broadly in balance in 2008. Tourism organisation The government agency responsible for tourism statistics and development, Nutek, was dismantled at the end of March, 2009 and replaced by a new government agency, Tillvxtverket. The responsibility for tourism was transferred without changes from the previous agency to the new one. The name in English, Swedish Agency for Economic and Regional Growth, is the same as before (Figure 4.27). The regional and local communities have a very high degree of autonomy with respect to the national level in matters relating to tourism. At the national level, there are two organisations responsible for different aspects of tourism. Tillvxtverket, the government agency, is charged with the national responsibility for tourism statistics and development questions, while the national promotional agency, VisitSweden, is responsible for the promotion of Sweden abroad. Sweden: Organisational chart of tourism bodies.

Ministry of Enterprise, Energy and Communications

Visit Sweden Promotion of Sweden

Tillvxtverket (Swedish Agency for Economics and Regional Growth) Policy development

Source: OECD, adapted from Swedish Agency for Economic and Regional Growth, 2009.

Tourism budget The tourism budget of Tillvxtverket has been integrated in the general budget of thisagency. The government part of the budget for tourism promotion of VisitSweden is about SEK 120 million in 2009. In addition there is a small (SEK 20 million) fund for research in tourism, which is administrated by Tillvxtverket. There are no specific taxes for tourism purposes. Tourism-related policies and programmes The aim of the government is to lower the unnecessary burden of laws and rules for all enterprises by 25% by 2010, by monitoring and simplifying rules and regulations. This affects enterprises in all sectors, including tourism. The current global crisis in the economy affects the tourism market in a number of different ways. There was a sharp drop in the long haul market in 2009, both inbound and outbound. Inbound flows from adjacent markets, however, are growing, due to tourists staying closer to home. For Sweden, with a larger flow of outbound nationals and a smaller flow of inbound foreign tourists, this is not altogether negative although, in the longer run, this will affect transport infrastructure and may diminish the incentive to adapt to changing market conditions.. Sustainable perspectives are important in Sweden. Currently almost no tourism development can take place without considering the impact on the environment. The Swe d i s h E c o t o u r i sm A s s o c i a t i o n c e r t i f i e s h i g h q u a l i t y e c o t o u r i sm p ro d u c t s a n denterprises through their Natures Best System, which has earned good international acceptance and respect. The issue of climate change has affected the Swedish tourism sector already. A milder and more humid climate has led to good winters in the north of Sweden with lots of snow and fewer extremely low temperatures. Summers are also somewhat warmer, leading to a better summer climate and longer summer seasons. Sweden, being situated at the rim of Europe, is highly dependent on reliable and fast transport from its main markets. This is especially important for the destinations in the north of the country, and achieving sustainable solutions in this area will constitute an important challenge. There is a (TSA) time series dating back to 1995. This is the major tool used to measure and analyse the impact of tourism on the economy and employment. Sweden is currently looking at the possibility of expanding the TSA into regional accounts, to meet the strong demand from several regions.

Key figures

Consumption, export value, employment and added value 2010 (percentage change from 2009 and 2000, current prices) Key figures from the sections on the economy (pp. 1018), export (pp. 1923) and employment (pp. 2427) SEK 254.4 billion total consumption, + 3.2% (+ 69.6% since 2000) 162,100 employees (individuals, average), + 1.4% (+ 23.9% since 2000) SEK 87.1 billion export revenue (foreign consumption in Sweden), + 1.7 percent (+ 114.3% since 2000) SEK 12.8 billion VAT revenue from foreign consumption in Sweden, +1.6% (+132.7% since 2000) SEK 167.3 billion total Swedish consumption in Sweden, + 4.1% (+ 52.9% since 2000) SEK 43.1 billion trade, industry and government authority consumption (Swedish business travellers) in Sweden, + 3.1% (+ 13.8% since 2000) SEK 124.2 billion Swedish household/leisure travel consumption in Sweden, + 4.4% (+ 73.7% since 2000) 7.8 percent of the total consumption of Swedish households was domestic tourism consumption SEK 80.6 billion added value, + 3.4% (+ 55.5% since 2000) Tourisms relationship to/share of Swedens total GDP was 2.9%

Volumes/nights spent, capacity and accommodation revenue for hotels, holiday villages, youth hostels, PCAs1 and campsites 2010 (percentage change from 2009) Key figures from Tourism in Sweden (pp. 3241) 52,406,034 total number of nights spent, + 2.7% 39,603,202 total number of Swedish/domestic nights spent, + 2.4% SEK 17.9 billion accommodation revenue from hotels, holiday villages and youth hostels, + 8.3% 1,985 total number of hotels, + 0.2% 224,444 total number of hotel beds, + 1.2% Foreign volumes/nights spent in Sweden 2010 (percentage change from 2009) Key figures from Inbound tourism (pp. 5060) 12,802,832 total number of foreign nights spent, + 3.8% of which: 5,921,493 from Europe (excl. Nordic), + 0.7% 5,261,152 from Nordic region (excl. Sweden), + 4.3% 1,620,187 from non-European countries, + 15.5% Swedish travel abroad 2010 (percentage change from 2009) Key figures from Outbound tourism (pp. 6166) 2.2 million business trips abroad with overnight stays, + 23.2% 10.8 million leisure trips abroad with overnight stays, + 9.4%

 13.0 million total trips abroad with overnight stays, + 11.5% Domestic tourism Domestic volumes continued to increase in 2010 The number of domestic/Swedish nights spent at hotels, holiday villages, youth hostels, campsites and in commercially arranged private cottages and apartments in Sweden increased by 2.4 percent to 39.6 million in 2010. However, between 1995 and 2010, the proportion of domestic nights spent at hotels, holiday villages and youth hostels fell from approx. 80 to just over 76 percent. In 2010, the number of domestic guest nights at hotels showed the biggest increase, rising by 5.6 percent. Volumes at youth hostels increased by 1 percent, holiday villages rose by 0.4 percent and commercially arranged private cottages and apartments showed a 2.6 percent increase. Domestic volumes at campsites declined by 2.6 percent.

In addition, approx. 53.9 (46.9) million nights were spent in accommodation provided by friends and relatives, approx. 32.3 (28.3) million in self-owned holiday cottages and apartments and approx. 7.2 (7.2) million in privately rented cottages and apartments. Source: Resurs AB/TDB
Vstra Gtaland most popular with Swedish leisure travellers Swedish travellers made a total of 44.7 million trips with overnight stays in Sweden in 2010, which is an increase of almost 15 percent from 2009. Leisure travel accounted for almost 90 percent (39.7 million) of these trips, an increase of just over 13 percent from 2009. Business travel increased by over 20 percent Internal business travel and visiting friends and relatives most common purpose The most common reason for Swedish domestic business travellers trips with overnight stays was to make visits or attend meetings within their own company or organisation. This was the reason for over 34 percent of all business trips in 2010. The second most common reason was to attend a conference, convention, course or seminar. Business trips with an overnight stay in Sweden increased by over 20 percent in 2010. The percentage of individual business trips increased while there was a decline in the percentage of visits to conferences, conventions, courses and seminars. The number of leisure trips with overnight stays increased by just over 13 percent in 2010. Almost 60 percent of Swedish leisure travellers made trips in Sweden to meet friends and family. This category has risen a little in recent years.

Inbound tourism
Increase in foreign volumes in 2010 The number of foreign nights spent at Swedish hotels, holiday villages, youth hostels, campsites and in commercially arranged private cottages and apartments rose by 3.8 percent to just over 12.8 million in 2010. Between 1995 and 2010, the share of foreign nights spent at hotels, holiday villages and youth hostels increased from 20.1 to 23.2 percent. In 2010, the number of foreign nights spent at hotels increased most (4.5 percent), followed by foreign nights spent at campsites, which rose by 4.2 percent. However, foreign volumes at youth hostels declined by 1.9 percent. Hotels was the most common type of commercial accommodation for foreign visitors to Sweden, accounting for almost half of all nights spent (6.3 million) in 2010. Campsites came next, with just over 3.4 million nights spent. Together, other types of accommodation accounted for just over 3 million foreign nights spent in 2010. Norwegians most frequent foreign guests at commercial accommodation All except three of the 15 largest foreign markets showed an increase in 2010. Poland fell by 22.5 percent, Italy by 6 percent and Denmark by 4.4 percent. Norway, which is the largest individual market, increased by 8.9 percent. Other markets experiencing a large increase in 2010 were Belgium (+19.0%) and Foreign nights spent at hotels, holiday villages, youth
hostels, PCAs* and campsites, by region, in 2010 2.33.40.81.10.40.80.20.40.10.20.070.1Millions of nights spentSource: Swedish Agency forEconomic and
RegionalGrowth/Statistics Sweden* Commercially arranged private cottages and apartments 52

Switzerland (+16.1%). As a result of a global economic recovery, there was an increase in long-distance travel. Volumes from the USA, Swedens most important market outside Europe, rose by 14.5 percent in 2010.

Outbound tourism
Large proportion of leisure trips

According to data from Resurs AB and the Travel & Tourist Data Base (TDB), the number of trips abroad with overnight stays rose by 11.5 percent in 2010. This represented a strong recovery for travel abroad after a similarly large decline (12%) in 2009. 2.2 million of the 13 million trips abroad with overnight stays by Swedes in 2010 were business trips, while 10.8 million were leisure trips. The tables below show the most common destinations and purpose to travel (unless otherwise specified).

Finland and Spain top destinations for Swedes Finland, with over 11 percent of all foreign overnight trips, and Spain, with 9.6 percent, were the most popular destinations. There was a sharp increase in the number of trips to both Finland and Spain in 2010. With the exception of the USA, all the top ten foreign destinations showed an increase.
Germany, Italy and Finland were the top ten destinations that recorded the largest increases in 2010. Travel to the top ten destinations, which accounted for almost 70 percent of all travel abroad in 2010, has increased by 27 percent since 2000.

Germany top destination for business travellers A total of 2.2 million business trips abroad with overnight stays were made in 2010. Germany was the largest destination with just over 306,000 trips, and accounted for almost 14 percent of all business trips abroad. Because approx. 83 percent of all trips abroad are leisure trips, the top ten leisure destinations do not differ much from the top ten destinations for all trips abroad.