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  3. Sweden

Sweden

Sweden

Visitor characteristics

  • More than a third 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
  • 98% of departing visitors say they are ‘likely’ or ‘extremely likely’ to recommend Britain for a holiday

Popular activities

Sightseeing of Famous Buildings/ Monuments

Visited a Pub

Went Shopping

Global context

Measure2018
International tourism expenditure (US$bn)18.1
Global rank for international tourism expenditure20
Number of outbound visits (m)15.2
Most visited destinationSpain

Key demographic and economic data

Measure2018
Population (m)10.2
GDP per capita PPP (US$)46,450
Annual average GDP growth over past decade (%)1.8
Annual average GDP growth in the past year (%)2.2

Resources

Sweden Market Profile (PDF, 3MB)

visitbritain_marketprofile_sweden.pdf

Sweden Market Snapshot (PDF, 276KB)

sweden_fact_sheet_july_2019.pdf

Sweden Aviation Profile (PDF, 532KB)

sweden_aviation_profile_20190620.pdf

More resources

Find out where visitors from Sweden to the UK reside in their own country (Excel, 212KB, Published 2011 and 2016)

annual_states_of_residence_2018_for_web.xlsx

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

2015-3 Preferences of Europeans towards tourism_12.pdf

Exchange rate

1 GBP = 12.4262 SEK

As of 27 February 2020

Retrieved from the Bank of England

Inbound visits to Britain from Sweden

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Number of visits

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Total expenditure (GBP)

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Total nights spent

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Average spend per visit (GBP)

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What Swedes think about Britain

  • Swedes are more upbeat than average in their opinion of how welcoming the UK is, but do not hold the UK in high regard for scenic natural beauty
  • The cultural product Swedes most strongly associate with the UK is music by far, followed by museums, films, sports, and pop videos
  • 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’ then 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

Measure2018
Weekly aircraft departures197
Weekly seat capacity34,178
Airports with direct routes in Sweden4
Airports with direct routes in Britain8
  • 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
  • Visitors departing Britain to travel home to Sweden by air are charged £13 in Air Passenger Duty if travelling in economy class
    (2018 data, excludes flights to Cambridge and from Malmo, Ostersund and Avidsjaur)

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