Sweden
Sweden
Travellers from Sweden made 11.1 million outbound visits in 2024, with a total international tourism expenditure of US$13 billion.
In 2023, the UK welcomed 674,000 visits from Sweden. During the travellers’ visits, their total expenditure was £410.3 million, with an average spend of £609 per visit.
Visitor characteristics
- Half of all visitor spend comes courtesy of Swedish holidaymakers who contributed £205 million in 2023.
- 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 for this market
Dining in a restaurant.
Visiting a pub.
Going shopping.
For further information on activities and experiences for this market, please click here.
Explore the inbound data in full
Use our visualisations to see data from this market in greater depth and clarity. Compare annual statistics, and filter by age group, gender, trip duration and more. Includes seasonality, trip purpose and regional spread of visitors to UK destinations. This data is based on the International Passenger Survey, conducted by the Office for National Statistics (ONS).
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Perceptions of Britain in the Swedish market
- Swedes tend to be upbeat in their opinion of the UK. They rank the UK sixth out of 50 nations overall.
- Swedes ranked the UK fourth for vibrant city life/urban attractions, culture in general and contemporary culture. The UK was ranked fifth for historic buildings.
- 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’ (NBI, 2019).
Global context
Top-level statistics relating to tourism expenditure and popular destinations for this market. For greater detail on inbound tourism flows from this market to the UK, see our data visualisations.
| Measure | 2024 |
| International tourism expenditure (US$bn) | 13.0 |
| Global rank for international tourism expenditure | 28 |
| Number of outbound overnight visits (m) | 11.1 |
| Most visited destination | Spain |
Caring for visitors
- Swedes are used to communicating in English and are happy doing so: they do not expect British people to speak Swedish.
- Swedes want good-value accommodation and will use budget options. They expect en suite facilities and wooden or tiled floors.
- Swedes take more notice of environmental credentials than visitors from many other markets.
- Swedes enjoy the fine dining experiences on offer in Britain.
The leisure and travel trade
- The Swedish travel trade can be roughly split into four categories of charter operators, business travel/MICE, online operators and retail travel agents. Many companies offer a mix of these 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
The key routes and transport modes that connect this market with the UK.
| Measure | 2024 |
| Weekly aircraft departures | 149 |
| Weekly seat capacity | 26,124 |
| Airports with direct routes in Sweden | 4 |
| Airports with direct routes in Britain | 8 |
- 84% of seat capacity on direct flights from Sweden to the UK in 2024 are to London.
- Total flight capacity from Sweden to the UK has reached 81% of pre-COVID (2019) levels in 2024.
- The majority of visits to Britain from Sweden are made by air.
- Copenhagen in Denmark is also a popular gateway to the UK from the south of Sweden.
- To see rates of Air Passenger Duty for UK flights to this market, click here.
- To see entry requirements for visitors from this market, click here.
Further resources
How we source this information
We work with a number of data sources to provide a rich and insightful picture of our key inbound source markets. This includes, but is not limited to, data provided by Oxford Economics, the UNWTO, Apex, Anholt-Ipsos Nation Brands Index and from our own surveys and ad-hoc research. The largest share of these data comes from the International Passenger Survey (IPS) by the ONS.
Visit our About the International Passenger Survey page for more information on how this data is collected and analysed.
