Visiting Sweden Posted by Marcus Cederström on Aug 25, 2012 in Culture
Sweden is becoming a popular tourist destination and in the last few years has continued to bring in more and more money from tourism. In fact, according to VisitSweden.com (a great website by the way for all kinds of information on planning a trip to Sweden), Sweden now ranks 21st in the world in tourism revenue. That’s even more than countries like Mexico, Russia, and Portugal. Not bad for a country of only nine million people.
Even more impressive is the continued interest in the country. In a recent study, also by VisitSweden, over nine million people are planning a trip to Sweden. That’s more than the entire population of the country. Even more impressive is that about 25 million people hope to travel to Sweden in the next three years. Of course, numbers like that are hard to get exactly right. All kinds of things could happen that results in many of those 25 million people never setting foot in Sweden, but the potential is there.
With an impressive marketing campaign that includes a Twitter account run by average Swedish citizens, the country is putting a lot of work into raising the profile of Sweden abroad. Even Stockholm is getting into the act with its Stockholm: Capital of Scandinavia campaign. (Although, plenty of people in neighboring countries, Denmark for example, might not exactly agree with that statement.) That doesn’t stop the campaign from going abroad to spread their message. In fact, I’ve included below a great YouTube clip of one of their events in Cannes. It’s in English and is a fun three minutes showing off some of the great aspects of Stockholm as a city and Sweden as a country. Check it out:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=53_qvMQfvOE
Have you visited Sweden? Do you plan to visit? If so, where do you want to go and why? Let us know in the comments below!
Build vocabulary, practice pronunciation, and more with Transparent Language Online. Available anytime, anywhere, on any device.
About the Author: Marcus Cederström
Marcus Cederström has been writing for the Transparent Swedish Blog since 2009. He has a Bachelor's Degree in Scandinavian Studies from the University of Oregon, a Master's Degree in Scandinavian Studies from the University of Wisconsin–Madison, and a PhD in Scandinavian Studies and Folklore from the University of Wisconsin–Madison. He has taught Swedish for several years and still spells things wrong. So, if you see something, say something.
Comments:
Gabriella:
Just went to Sweden this summer. I’ve traveled a lot, but happily, this time I didn’t feel completely like a tourist, since I met and stayed with my distant cousin and met family there.
And I WILL go back, but really have no desire to tour the whole country–I loved my cousins and the Bjäre peninsula and Öland that much!
Having said, I do believe non-Swedish descent folks would also have a fantastic visit there.
Rob:
We love Sweden and visit regularly as we have
friends in Täby and Malmö! We think Stockholm
is fantastic and in particular Gamla Stan! My partner
can speak Swedish fluently and I’m learning as we
would love to live in Sweden! Göteborg is also
a great city. Swedes are very friendly, the lakes
and countryside are open and clean and your
cities are amazing! Sverige är stor och så är folket!
Muhammed delil:
İ have been in Sweden two times and like it very much Stockholm is amazing;-)
ATEM ALFRED:
lam a cameroonian and lam a teacher l teach english in lycee de nylon in douala.lam a holder of GCE A LEVEL CERTIFICATES.lam also undergoing my tesol 120 hours so l have never visit sweden becouse l do not have money to do all the necesary documents but l will one day l will visit the beautiful land
Ben:
Hej!
I’ve visited Sweden already but I’m planning many more visits in the future.
I went around Lapland and I have to say, it’s a truly magnificent place – at summertime. I’ not so sure about winter though. 🙂
Marcus Cederström:
Great to hear