Tourism direct GDP (2024) | Tourism direct employment (2024) | Travel exports (2024) |
|---|---|---|
2.8% of total GDP (up 0.2 percentage points since 2023) | 2.6% of total employment (up 0.1 percentage points since 2023) | 9.3% of total service exports (down 0.1 percentage points since 2023) |
OECD Tourism Trends and Policies 2026
National tourism strategy: Not applicable
National tourism administration: Swedish Agency for Economic and Regional Growth
National tourism budget: SEK 133.8 million (2025)
Key tourism policy priorities and actions:
Reducing administrative burden for tourism businesses – Reducing the regulatory burden and associated costs for businesses to promote growth, jobs and higher tax revenues.
Improving tourism data – Utilising data from credit card companies to track and analyse the effects of tourism at the regional and municipal levels.
Supporting the tourism workforce – Creating an alignment between employers and education providers to develop a strategic skills supply for tourism.
Tourism is an important economic driver for the Swedish economy. In 2024, tourism contributed 2.8% to Sweden’s national GDP or SEK 181 billion, an increase of 12.7% compared to 2023. On average, 130 900 people were employed in tourism in 2024, representing 2.6% of total employment and an increase of 2.0% compared to the previous year. Travel exports reached SEK 113.2 billion or 9.3% of total service exports, in line with the share in 2023.
Sweden registered 8.7 million international overnight visitors in commercial accommodation establishments in 2024, staying 16.8 million nights. This is a 15.3% increase in overnight visitors from 2023, while nights increased by 2.0%. The three main source markets in terms of bednights, were Germany (21%), Norway (20%), and Denmark (12%). International arrivals decreased by 2.8% in 2025.
There were 50.1 million domestic nights recorded at commercial accommodation establishments in 2024. This figure was down slightly (2.5%) from 2023 but 0.6% above 2019 levels.
The Swedish Agency for Economic and Regional Growth, Tillväxtverket, is responsible for tourism at the national level. Visit Sweden is a state-owned company that markets Sweden as a tourist destination internationally. Both organisations report to the Ministry of Climate and Enterprise.
Tillväxtverket develops, implements, and supports knowledge-based initiatives and activities to promote tourism sector development and entrepreneurship. The Agency is also responsible for official tourism statistics, including the production and dissemination of knowledge on tourism and its effects on the Swedish economy. Where necessary, it collaborates with other government agencies on issues related to tourism.
Tourism is prioritised and high on the agenda in many municipalities and regions. A regional tourism network is established, organised and run at the regional level. The network is an important tool for communication and collaboration with industry organisations and national stakeholders. The Swedish Association of Local Authorities and Regions, an umbrella organisation for local and regional authorities, offers support and services through networking platforms, knowledge reports and conferences, among other activities.
The Swedish Institute, a governmental authority, leads a Team Sweden group focused on the Brand Sweden strategy, bringing together a wide range of key actors including the business sector, academia, government agencies, civil society and Visit Sweden. Swedish embassies play a central role in promoting Sweden abroad, working closely with the Swedish Institute as part of this co-ordinated effort.
Visit Sweden was allocated SEK 109.6 million in 2025, while Tillväxtverket allocated SEK 24.2 million within its appropriations framework. for tourism activities. Significant resources have also been allocated to tourism through regional and EU funds.
Source: OECD, adapted from the Ministry of Climate and Enterprise, 2026.
Sweden currently has no specific long-term strategy for tourism. Instead, tourism is considered in Sweden’s overarching economic policy goal. However, strategies do exist for specific areas of tourism including:
Sweden Brand Strategy – The National Brand Strategy, implemented in May 2025, provides direction for promoting Sweden abroad. The Strategy puts an increased focus on co-ordinated communication and long-term positioning of Sweden as innovative, sustainable and free trade friendly.
Swedish Food Strategy – This Strategy sets a framework to develop a competitive and sustainable food supply chain by 2030. Tourism is incorporated in the form of marketing for food and beverage tourism.
Regions in Sweden have also adopted their own strategies, with 18 regional tourism strategies currently being implemented.
The Nordic Tourism Plan 2025-2030 is a strategic document which is aligned with and supports the overall strategy for Nordic co-operation in the business sector and the objectives of Vision 2030. The Plan aims to strengthen Nordic tourism co-operation and support and facilitate growth in the tourism sector, with activities carried out to complement national tourism strategies and provide Nordic added value. The Nordic Tourism Working Group was formally established in 2019 to oversee implementation of the Nordic Tourism Plan and includes Denmark, Finland, Iceland, Sweden and Norway.
The Swedish Government is focusing on minimising the regulatory burden on small businesses in the tourism sector (as well as in other industries). In recent years, several complex regulatory frameworks have been introduced to improve regulation and compliance that are difficult to apply and, in many cases, are also subject to over-implementation. This has significant consequences for businesses and, ultimately, for Sweden’s overall competitiveness.
There is broad political consensus in Sweden that both starting and running a business must become easier to strengthen competitiveness, innovation, and the development of new business models. Sweden is exploring opportunities to reduce the regulatory burden and associated costs for businesses, to increase tourism growth, jobs, and tax revenues. One recent action was removing the need for a hotel permit when starting or taking over a hotel business. The permit has been replaced by an easier application procedure.
The tourism workforce continues to face persistent challenges related to skills supply in Sweden. To better understand these issues, Sweden undertook a study in 2023 on ‘Problem mapping - Challenges and opportunities for the hospitality industry's skills supply’. This report reveals that the pressing structural issues facing the sector are not only its limited attractiveness as a long-term career path, but also the mismatch between education and employment opportunities.
Transport remains a key priority for the tourism sector. The national plan for transport infrastructure for the period 2026-2037 enables strong investments in the road system, including investments in electric charging infrastructure, which will facilitate sustainable tourism in cities and remote areas. The Swedish Transport Administration will present a strategy to synchronise the Swedish railway system with the European Rail Traffic Management System. The goal is to introduce the European system in 2042.
Finally, the improvement of tourism data continues to be a priority for Sweden. In 2025, the Swedish Agency for Economic and Regional Growth (Tillväxtverket) presented new tourism accounts at the national, regional, and municipal levels. The calculations were made using a new method linked to Big Data. For the first time, the effects of tourism are being measured at the regional and municipal levels for the years 2019–2023. Sweden has also launched a new platform which allows for the uniform collecting, structuring and distribution of tourism data to create access to reliable information at lower cost and with higher quality (see box below).
Sweden has launched a national collaboration project to establish a standardised API for the tourism sector. The initiative makes it possible to collect, structure and distribute tourism data in a uniform way, ensuring that businesses, regions, and global platforms can access reliable information at lower cost and with higher quality. Today, tourism data is scattered across local systems and websites, which limits visibility and efficiency. The national API provides a digital infrastructure that enables innovation, smarter services and a stronger international reach.
Reliable and accessible data is also essential to support evidence-based policy decisions and long-term sustainable growth in tourism. By providing an open standard for data sharing, the API contributes to greater transparency, improved co-ordination between stakeholders, and ensures that Sweden’s tourism offer is visible in the channels where prospective visitors search. The project also addresses the data requirements for AI-driven travel planning, sustainability monitoring and digital innovation in line with Sweden’s data and digitalisation strategies.
To build a long-term structure and help companies gain visibility through the API, Sweden’s destinations, municipalities and regional tourism organisations are involved in managing different parts of the process. Examples of actors already exporting data, or soon to be connected, include major Swedish hotel chains such as Scandic, Best Western, Strawberry and Elite, as well as Swedish Tourist Association, Göta Kanal, Svensk Camping, Park & Resorts, First Camp and Svenska Möten. The project has the ambition to scale further through European and international partnerships. The goal is that the national API will serve as a fully operational backbone for data-driven tourism development, securing Sweden’s position as one of the leading digital destinations in the world.