Visit Sweden, the state-owned company that promotes the image of Sweden as a travel destination, welcomes the national strategy for sustainable tourism and the hospitality industry that the government presented today.

– The strategy now creates even better and clearer conditions for joining forces and uniting the Swedish tourism and visitor industry, says Visit Sweden's CEO Susanne Andersson.

Since the strategy was published to all parties today, it is too early to go into what the strategy will mean in practice.

– We have read through the strategy for the first time and are very positive that it now provides a clear and comprehensive picture for the work ahead.

– We are perhaps a little extra happy about the clarity that Visit Sweden is the actor that has the national public mission to market Sweden to both the Swedish and international target groups, Susanne continues.

– And that Visit Sweden's already begun work on focusing marketing to increase demand for the travel destination Sweden towards travelers who demand sustainable alternatives and make active sustainable choices, is what the government is now also pointing out as the way forward.

– We can also hope that the budget allocations that are allocated to the operations in the future match the work that the government wants us and others to do to create the desired value for the tourism industry and Sweden, concludes Susanne, who is currently participating in a collaboration meeting between the Nordic countries.

It is also gratifying that the strategy now clearly includes Nordic cooperation in joint marketing of the Nordic region as a sustainable tourist destination for long-distance markets.

The government has been refining the national strategy for sustainable tourism and the hospitality industry since 2017, when the inquiry "A Country to Visit" submitted its final report on a comprehensive policy for sustainable tourism and a growing hospitality industry to the Minister of Business and Innovation.

After the government identified the hospitality industry as one of Sweden's new core industries in 2019, this new strategy provides an important platform for all parties to build on, at both national, regional and local levels. Especially now that the world and Sweden are emerging from a long period of devastating pandemics and restrictions that have nearly paralyzed the hospitality industry.