Current Tourism Patterns in the Swedish Mountain Region

Tourism has been part of the mountain economy in Sweden for the past century. With the current decline of the extractive industries in this rural area, tourism is taking on new significance for many communities. This article gives an overview of tourism in the extensive Swedish mountain region, with a focus on types of recreational activities and their regionality. The data presented are based on a national sample of participation in mountain tourism. Findings show that 43% of the Swedish adult population (2.66 million individuals) visited the mountains at least once during a 5-year period (1995–1999). Winter activities—skiing and snowmobiling—were the dominant forms of mountain recreation. Tourism activity patterns differ distinctively across the 4 mountain counties: whereas winter tourism dominates in the southern parts of the region, the north receives visitors mostly in the summer. Only 5% of visitors to the Swedish mountains are from outside Scandinavia. In a single year, 9 times as many people visited the Swedish mountains as live there, but despite these numbers the population in the region is continually decreasing.