Sweden

The International Passenger Survey (IPS) was suspended on 16 March 2020 due to the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic until the start of 2021. The ONS have made every effort to produce high-quality estimates for the periods when IPS data is not being collected but have not been able to produce a full set of results. See the 2020 inbound page for more information. Data for 2021 and 2022 was also impacted by COVID-19, more information can be found on the About IPS page.

Due to the above, the latest full year IPS data below is from 2019. You can access data detailed data from 2020 onwards on the latest annual page.

Visitor characteristics

Almost two-in-five of Swedish visitors are under 35 years of age
Nearly four-in-five holiday visitors are making a repeat trip to Britain (excluding British nationals)
A significant proportion of visitors live in or around Stockholm
97% of departing visitors say they are ‘likely’ or ‘extremely likely’ to recommend Britain for a holiday

Popular activities

Dining in a restaurant

Visited a Pub

Went Shopping

Global context


Measure	2022
International tourism expenditure (US$bn) (2019)	17.4
Global rank for international tourism expenditure (2019)	25
Number of outbound visits (m)	10.5
Most visited destination	Denmark

Key demographic and economic data


Measure	2022
Population (m)	10.5
GDP per capita PPP (US$)	65,657
Annual average GDP growth over past decade (%)	2.3
Annual GDP growth (%)	2.9

Sweden Market Snapshot (PDF, 843KB)

Sweden Market Profile (PDF, 67.82MB)

Sweden Aviation Profile (PDF, 646KB)

Sweden COVID-19 Travel Sentiment (PDF, 476KB, Published April 2022)

Find out where visitors from Sweden to the UK reside in their own country (Excel, 176KB, Published 2016)

Read about the preferences of Europeans towards tourism (PDF, 1.65MB, Published March 2015)

Exchange rate

1 GBP = 13.709 SEK

As of 20 September 2023

Retrieved from the Bank of England

Inbound visits to Britain from Sweden

Applied filters:

Display:

Drag to change year on charts and tables.

Touch the data points to see the values.

OVERVIEW OF UK VISITOR STATISTICS {{activeYear.name}}

Number of visits

{{ totalVisitsPerc == 'Infinity' ? '-' : totalVisitsPerc >= 0 ? '+' + totalVisitsPerc.toFixed(2) + '%' : totalVisitsPerc.toFixed(2) + '%' }}

{{item.name}} {{item.data | fixUnits}}

Total expenditure (GBP)

{{ totalSpendPerc == 'Infinity' ? '-' : totalSpendPerc >= 0 ? '+' + totalSpendPerc.toFixed(2) + '%' : totalSpendPerc.toFixed(2) + '%' }}

{{item.name}} {{item.data | spendUnits}}

Total nights spent

{{ totalNightsPerc == 'Infinity' ? '-' : totalNightsPerc >= 0 ? '+' + totalNightsPerc.toFixed(2) + '%' : totalNightsPerc.toFixed(2) + '%' }}

{{item.name}} {{item.data | fixUnits}}

Average length of stay (Nights)

{{ isNaN(avgStayPerc) ? '-' : avgStayPerc >= 0 ? '+' + avgStayPerc.toFixed(2) + '%' : avgStayPerc.toFixed(2) + '%' }}

{{item.name}} {{item.data.toFixed(2)}}

Average spend per visit (GBP)

{{ isNaN(avgSpendPerc) ? '-' : avgSpendPerc >= 0 ? '+' + avgSpendPerc.toFixed(2) + '%' : avgSpendPerc.toFixed(2) + '%' }}

{{item.name}} {{item.data | spendUnits(0, 'hideUnit')}}

* Change from {{Number(activeYear.name) - 1}}

Chart
Table

	{{seasonalityBox.visits.data[1].name}}		{{seasonalityBox.visits.data[0].name}}
	Visits	% total	Visits	% total
{{item}}	{{seasonalityBox.visits.data[1].data[index] \| fixUnits(2)}}	{{seasonalityBox.visits.data[1].totalPerc[index]}} %	{{seasonalityBox.visits.data[0].data[index] \| fixUnits(2, 'showDigits')}}	{{seasonalityBox.visits.data[0].totalPerc[index]}} %

Chart
Table

		{{journeyBox.visits.data[1].name}}				{{journeyBox.visits.data[0].name}}
	Visits	% total	Nights	% total	Visits	% total	Nights	% total
{{item}}	{{journeyBox.visits.data[1].data[index] \| fixUnits(2)}}	{{journeyBox.visits.data[1].totalPerc[index]}} %	{{journeyBox.nights.data[1].data[index] \| fixUnits(2)}}	{{journeyBox.nights.data[1].totalPerc[index]}} %	{{journeyBox.visits.data[0].data[index] \| fixUnits(2, 'showDigits')}}	{{journeyBox.visits.data[0].totalPerc[index]}} %	{{journeyBox.nights.data[0].data[index] \| fixUnits(2, 'showDigits')}}	{{journeyBox.nights.data[0].totalPerc[index]}} %

Chart
Table

	{{durationBox.visits.data[1].name}}		{{durationBox.visits.data[0].name}}
	Visits	% total	Visits	% total
{{item}}	{{durationBox.visits.data[1].data[index] \| fixUnits(2)}}	{{durationBox.visits.data[1].totalPerc[index]}} %	{{durationBox.visits.data[0].data[index] \| fixUnits(2, 'showDigits')}}	{{durationBox.visits.data[0].totalPerc[index]}} %

What Swedes think about Britain

Swedes are more upbeat than average in their opinion of how welcoming the UK is and rank the UK third out of sixty nations overall, as well as first for 'vibrant city life', 'contemporary culture' and 'culture in general'
The cultural product Swedes most strongly associate with the UK is music, followed by films, sports, museums, and pop videos in 2022
When thinking about holiday destinations Swedes see a chance to have ‘fun and laughter’ and ‘enjoy the beauty of the landscape’ as important. They perceive the US, Australia and Italy as the ‘best places’ for it.
Swedes are more likely to nominate Britain as the best place to ‘meet the locals’ than they are other leading destinations
Activities that appeal to potential Swedish visitors include 'visiting Madame Tussauds', 'enjoying a traditional afternoon tea', 'driving through the countryside in England', 'taking a canal boat tour through the waterways of England', and 'going on a food tour of one of London's best foodie markets'

Caring for visitors

Swedes expect good-value accommodation and will use budget acommodation - they will expect en-suite facilities and wooden/tiled floors
Swedes will take more notice of environmental credentials than visitors from many other markets
Visitors from Sweden are more likely than the average visitor to use a credit card to pay for goods and services in Britain

The leisure & travel trade

The Swedish trade can be roughly split into four categories of charter operators, business travel/MICE, online operators and retail travel agents with many companies offering a mix of the four services
The key centres for travel trade are Stockholm, Gothenburg and Malmo
There is no distinct planning cycle so it is possible to do business in Sweden throughout the year

Access to Britain from Sweden


Measure	2023
Weekly aircraft departures	156
Weekly seat capacity	27,155
Airports with direct routes in Sweden	6
Airports with direct routes in Britain	9

The majority of visits to Britain from Sweden are made by air
The bulk of seat capacity serves the Stockholm to London corridor
Four airlines operate virtually all capacity between Sweden and Britain
Copenhagen in Denmark is also a popular gateway to the UK from the south of Sweden
Following the Covid-19 pandemic, scheduled seat capacity on non-stop flights from Sweden to the UK has recovered to 84% of 2019 levels in 2023
Visitors departing Britain to travel home to Sweden by air are charged £13 in Air Passenger Duty if travelling in economy class

Markets

Sweden