Sweden
Sweden
Travellers from Sweden made 11.8 million outbound visits in 2023, with a total international tourism expenditure of US$13.6 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.
Discover visitor behaviour, travel trade insights, detailed data visualisations for this market – and more. The statistics in this market report are collated from a range of sources such as the Office for National Statistics (ONS), as well as sponsored questions and our own research. For further details, see How we source this information.
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.
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 eighth out of 60 nations overall, and second for ‘vibrant city life’, fourth for ‘contemporary culture’ and fifth for ‘culture in general’ in 2023.
- The cultural product that 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 consider the opportunity to have ‘fun and laughter’ and ‘enjoy the beauty of the landscape’ as important. They perceive the USA, Australia and Italy as the ‘best places’ for this.
- 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’.
Global context
Top-level statistics relating to the population, GDP, 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 | 2023 |
| International tourism expenditure (US$bn) | 13.6 |
| Global rank for international tourism expenditure | 27 |
| Number of outbound overnight visits (m) | 11.8 |
| Most visited destination | Spain |
Key demographic and economic data
| Measure | 2023 |
| Population (m) | 11 |
| GDP per capita PPP (US$) | 68,114 |
| Annual average GDP growth over past decade (%) | 2.0 |
| Annual GDP growth (%) | 0.1 |
Caring for visitors
- 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.
- Visitors from Sweden are more likely than the average visitor to use credit cards to pay for goods and services 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 | 2023 |
| Weekly aircraft departures | 154 |
| Weekly seat capacity | 26,914 |
| 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 is on the Stockholm to London corridor.
- 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 recovered to 83% of 2019 levels in 2023.
- Visitors departing from Britain to Sweden by air are charged £13 in Air Passenger Duty if travelling in economy class.
Further resources
Sweden Market Snapshot.pdf
Sweden Market Snapshot
Sweden Market Profile
Sweden Market Profile
Sweden Aviation Profile
Sweden Aviation Profile
Sweden COVID-19 Travel Sentiment
Sweden COVID-19 Travel Sentiment
Sweden Market Snapshot.pdf
Sweden Market Snapshot
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.
