Response to interpellation 2024/25:294 on the tourism industry
Translated from Swedish by AI; the translation may contain errors. The Swedish text is the original.
Summary AI, written in advance
KD considers the tourism industry to be an important labor-intensive industry that creates jobs 1. KD focuses on regulatory simplifications, skills supply, infrastructure and removing the aviation tax 1 2 3. KD emphasizes that they invest in action rather than new policies 2. S argues that the government lacks a national strategy and has reduced the appropriations to Visit Sweden 4. S wants to increase the appropriations to strengthen Sweden's international visibility 4. S criticizes that the government has not taken responsibility for the national level 5. S argues that the government is not investing in skills supply as educational places have disappeared 5. S considers that the country needs a coherent strategy 6.
Written by AI in advance and may contain errors. The numbers lead to the speech a statement builds on; check against the text below.
Energi- och näringsministern Ebba Busch (KD)
Madam Speaker! Isak From has asked me how the government and I intend to develop the tourism industry and whether the government and I intend to create a new tourism strategy.
The tourism industry is important for Sweden from several perspectives. It is a labor-intensive industry that creates jobs, not least for young people and for people with a foreign background. It also contributes to developing attractive places all around our country, which not only benefits visitors but also those who live and work in a place. The tourism industry also contributes to the entire business sector's opportunities to attract competence.
I will answer directly: The Government does not intend to produce a new strategy. We are building on the consensus and knowledge that exists nationally, regionally and locally, and we are focusing on issues that make a difference for companies and the local community.
Several Swedish regions carry out their own projects to promote the tourism industry, with support from the European Regional Development Fund. The fund gives the local and regional level its own opportunities to initiate projects and measures based on the regional development policy, based on specific, site-based needs for the tourism industry.
Representatives of the tourism industry highlight above all two areas as important for them to be able to develop their operations: regulatory simplification and skills supply. Both of these areas are prioritized by the government. The establishment of the Simplification Council and the Implementation Council, and the ambitious simplification mandates the government has given to about thirty agencies, are of great importance for small and medium-sized enterprises.
The Government decided on 16 January 2025 on the bill Better conditions for the tourism industry regarding small-scale production of alcoholic beverages, the so-called farm sales proposal. The proposal has previously been sent for notification to the EU Commission, which has had no objections to the proposal. This means that the process can proceed.
The new provisions on farm sales are proposed to enter into force on 1 June 2025 and are proposed to apply for six years counted from the date of entry into force. During this period, an evaluation should be conducted which shall form the basis for a decision on whether the regulation should be extended or made permanent. It has been the government's objective to establish a proposal as quickly as possible that enables farm sales, while simultaneously safeguarding the retail monopoly.
The Government decided on 1 July 2023 to abolish the dan permission. On 1 January this year, the hotel permission was revoked and replaced with a simpler notification procedure.
Permit approvals, hotel permits, and farm sales are issues that representatives of the tourism industry have tried to influence for many years without success. Now, the government has in a short time removed unwanted obstacles while a model for farm sales has been developed to benefit small-scale tourism.
The government's strategic work to remove unnecessary obstacles contributes to the Swedish tourism industry being able to develop its competitiveness in the long term. It creates jobs, prosperity, and attractive places all around our beautiful country.
Isak From (S)
Madam Speaker! Thank you, Minister for Enterprise, for the answer!
The answer covers a number of questions. The government's clarity cannot be overstated. One is not interested in and has no intention of producing a new strategy.
They laid down the strategy that the social democrat-led government drew up, but they refer the entire national responsibility to the regional and local [levels]. It is naturally perhaps not just bad. It can also be quite good, but a lot of complements may be needed.
Madam Speaker! I submitted the questions in the interpellation in December after we had had the budget debate and after we had taken note of the government's ambitions in the area. I also share the government's analysis when it comes to the fact that this is a competence-intensive industry.
Minister Busch has referred to me that she did not have time to provide the answer because she was away on necessary travels. I understand that the government needs to travel and address the high number of unemployed people emerging in industry after industry. It is clear that the tourism industry can be, and has been, an entry point for both young people and newcomers – an integration engine. However, none of that is visible in this answer.
When it comes to the national level and who should market Sweden: Is it the farm sales, the danish license and the hotel license that will attract Japanese and perhaps Americans, Canadians and – what do I know – Brazilians to Sweden? I don't really know; usually, it is our nature, culture and so on that attracts. A new culture could arise around the farm sales. We don't know that, but it has been highlighted as the government's major regional policy reform. Now it is also referred to as the tourism policy reform that is supposed to build this industry strong.
Then one perhaps becomes a bit mathematically nerdy when reading how large investments are being made in the skills supply, while a number of educational places have disappeared since the Social Democrats handed over power after the Tidö government took over. When the decision was made to also shut down the vocational schools, this industry lost an important entry point, and this has been criticized from the industry's side.
When we read the budget that the government has presented, we can observe that more than 1 billion disappears from adult education until 2027. It is not an investment. If the government does not change its mind regarding the budget for 2026, it is therefore constant cuts over several years – assuming that a small increase is made for 2025.
Monica Haider (S)
Madam Speaker! Thank you, Isak From, for an important interpellation, and thank you very much for the answer, Minister!
The tourism industry is one of our most important growth engines. It creates jobs across the entire country, not least for young people and newcomers, strengthens our local communities, and contributes to sustainable development. But despite the fact that interest in traveling in Sweden is great and despite the fact that competition for tourists is increasing, the government has chosen to scale back its ambitions. While other countries choose to ramp up marketing and strengthen their positions, the government chose in 2023 to reduce the funding to Visit Sweden. This has led to Sweden's international visibility decreasing and to the fact that we are actually losing market shares.
We Social Democrats see the potential in the Swedish tourism industry and want Sweden to be an obvious choice for international visitors. Therefore, we are increasing the appropriations to Visit Sweden in our budget motion. We know that long-term perspective and powerful marketing make a difference. It is a competitive tool we cannot afford to neglect.
Madam Speaker! We see with concern that the government's strategy for the tourism industry is non-existent. The Social Democratic government produced a national strategy for sustainable tourism and a growing tourism industry, but that strategy has now completely disappeared – it is not even left on the government's website – and there also seems to be no plan to produce a new one. The government now claims that they are building on existing knowledge and consensus, but in practice, we actually see no clear initiatives. There is a lack of a long-term plan for how Sweden should strengthen its position as a tourist destination.
If we are to take full advantage of our tourism industry, more than regulatory simplifications and point interventions are required. An offensive strategy is needed where the state, the regions, and the industry work together to lift the entire sector. We Social Democrats have a clear ambition: We want to strengthen the Swedish tourism industry and create more jobs across the entire country.
Madam Speaker! I would like to ask the Minister if there is even any consideration of presenting any strategy at all, but I perceived the answer to that question to be no. My question is therefore: Is the government considering at least taking some form of collective action on the issue?
Energi- och näringsministern Ebba Busch (KD)
Madam Speaker! There is much that one wants to say on this area, and it is not so often that we debate tourism in the chamber. I am therefore glad that we got this opportunity, and I take the chance to thank the interpellor for the interpellation. Likewise, I thank Monica Haider for her contribution to the debate.
It is undeniable that this is an industry that creates many jobs – over 100,000 full-time jobs. The total tourism consumption in Sweden amounted to almost 250 billion kronor in 2021, and we are now eagerly awaiting figures and new statistics in March. This is a mix; the largest part consists of Swedes' own tourism consumption in Sweden, and then we have the foreign consumption on top of that. We now hope that we will have a different situation here on the other side of the pandemic, which was an incredibly tough period for the Swedish tourism industry.
I will begin by answering very directly to Monica Haider's question, Madam Speaker: No, there is no plan to produce a new document.
I think I can afford to be humble and reflect a bit freely, even if it is not particularly often that we ministers venture to do so in the chamber. It is not entirely given when a new policy, a new strategy, and a new document for an area should be produced, and when it should not be. Here, the strategy has been that we can rely heavily on the fact that this chamber is fundamentally quite politically in agreement on the starting points for the tourism industry in Sweden – and now we go! We know what the feedback from the tourism industry is regarding regulatory simplifications and skills supply, because it is very clear. Then we try to execute based on that.
It is not everyone who nerds out on these issues every day, and therefore I still want to emphasize the following: We have, therefore, a rather extensive regulatory simplification package that we have now launched, and it consists, among other things, of a simplification council and an implementation council.
The former shall submit proposals for simplifications of Swedish legislation in order to reduce the regulatory burden and administrative costs for Swedish companies. It is no small matter. Sometimes we appoint an inquiry to look at something specific that perhaps can be removed and changed, and here we now have a council that can repeatedly submit proposals, without request. It is precisely this crossroads that the rest of Europe faces: Should one add more regulatory burden on companies, or should one start to ease it? Sweden has chosen the path. We will not sit and wait for the EU Commission. The EU is not the EU Commission, rather the EU is the member states. Sweden is now taking the lead in terms of simplifications.
Then we have the Implementation Council, which among other things shall ensure that Sweden enters earlier in EU processes that are crucial for Sweden. Is it something that the business community has talked about during my ten years as party leader and now two and a half years as minister, is that it doesn't matter whether we have a red government or a blue government – Sweden will still enter EU processes too late. The Implementation Council can help us with some of that, especially regarding rolling back some over-implementation of EU directives.
About thirty authorities have been given assignments in the same area. We have increased the appropriation – it is modest, but it has still received an increase – to Visit Sweden, and the Swedish Institute has been tasked with both establishing and coordinating a Team Sweden group that shall modernize the work on Sweden's image. We know, in fact, that the image of Sweden in general and the tourism industry are partially communicating vessels which, when they head in the right direction, serve Sweden well in many areas.
So, a lot is happening, but it is much about doing rather than about more policies.
Isak From (S)
Madam Speaker! Now some EU debate has also come in! It can be refreshing for the Minister to be a bit more outspoken. I believe, however, that some who are listening to the debate, especially from the industry, are not entirely impressed by the changes to the permit status. I cannot say whether we Social Democrats could have done this differently, but the industry says that they received more administration. Now one has to make a notification for every occasion. There, one needs to state how many guards one will have, which guards they shall be, when they shall serve, and so on. That was not quite what had been promised.
Regarding the second debate, the Minister referred to the municipal veto. Many of these decisions are municipal, especially those linked to the alcohol legislation. The question then is: Does the government intend to override the municipalities in their important work?
If we connect to the national level, we can see that a sector that has actually returned and is now growing is the sugar tourism from Norway, that is to say, the trade commuting. Norwegians buy candy, drinks, alcohol, meat and so on. It has become a growing industry. But it is nevertheless not that which attracts South Koreans, Japanese, Brazilians or Canadians.
In the Nordic countries and Scandinavia, there are three countries that are now mobilizing quite significantly and affecting us very much. Norway has attracted and continues to attract Americans to its country and has a long-term strategy for that. Finland, through its strategy, has targeted Asia. We also see how the Danes are mobilizing around Copenhagen and Kastrup.
This government, however, does not have the ability to mobilize in the same way around Arlanda, which creates a negative spiral. Let's say that Japanese people decide to visit Rovaniemi in Finland. It is clear that we could then have a cooperation with the Finns so that the Japanese also come to Sweden. But we don't really see that. We don't see it in the government's mandate. We don't see that the embassies should have been given that mandate. We don't see the long-term marketing. It is not I, but the industry that says so.
We need a long-term strategy to get foreign tourists here. Beyoncé brought very many visitors to Stockholm. It was chosen to hold several large concerts here, which was very good for Stockholm. But for the country as a whole, including Dalarna, Norrbotten and Västerbotten, it is required that there is some form of cohesion and a coherent strategy. The tourism industry in Kiruna does not turn over as much as the mining industry, but it still turns over 1 billion. Then it is a bit astonishing that the state's own company Swedavia cannot manage to maintain the flights on evenings and weekends.
Monica Haider (S)
Madam Speaker! We heard in the interpellation response that the government does not intend to produce a new tourism strategy but wants to focus on "issues that make a difference for companies and the local community," but also that several Swedish regions are carrying out their own projects with support from the European Regional Development Fund. The fund is now to be centralized. We are to have only one in all of Sweden. Furthermore, the decisions are to be made by Tillväxtverket, and the regions shall only be advisory. Then there will not be much regional influence in these matters.
The Minister says that the tourism industry itself emphasizes that it wants regulatory simplification and competence supply. So be it! This is, of course, also something we Members of Parliament hear. But first, we must get the tourists here. Then marketing and an idea of what one wants are needed.
My questions are: What does the government want to do for the tourism industry more than regulatory simplification and skills supply? And does the government think the tourism industry should continue to be one of our largest industries in Sweden?
Energi- och näringsministern Ebba Busch (KD)
Madam Speaker! I would like to begin with the question of skills supply. We have in different ways intensified the work to ensure that we now even better match the needs that the business sector has regarding the skills supply, given the changes occurring in the labor market. It is obvious that it is not just one type of skill that is needed within the tourism industry. One needs to recruit many different skills to manage to be competitive.
Measures that are particularly important for the tourism industry are, for example, improved conditions and increased compensation for employers who receive apprentices within upper secondary school and komvux. Another initiative concerns continued state co-financing of WorldSkills Sweden for the improvement of the quality and attractiveness of vocational education. The Government also prioritizes funds for more places within both the university college and the vocational adult education.
Furthermore, a lot is happening regarding the possibility of digitalization of statistics and data. Tillväxtverket, which is one of the agencies I am responsible for, has received the assignment and the responsibility to take a new approach to secure and develop tourism statistics. The goal is more comparable but, above all, reliable statistics. The analyses that are carried out shall therefore become more useful. Not least, we shall be able to see how we stand in the tough international competition.
Some somewhat conflicting signals are coming from the opposition. There is also a bit of a conflict of objectives here. How much should be placed on the regional when there is "tough" international competition? We must speak with one voice. Someone must point with the whole hand. What is it that we are to communicate? What is it that we have collectively gathered to market Sweden as? At the same time, the regions are to do as much as possible. I believe one should be honest that that is a tough conflict of objectives. But there is reason for the restructuring that we have now carried out.
I want to reiterate that things are interconnected. That is also why I mention the EU and the difficult debate taking place there. Sweden chooses to lead the way when it comes to some of the regulatory simplifications.
What we are now doing with the largest infrastructure budget ever also has an impact on the possibility of not only living and residing but also touring the entire country. We are now adding 200 billion more to the infrastructure bill, which means that we can, in practice, zero out the road maintenance debt. If one goes out and travels in this country, one notices quite quickly how bad the roads are. We also know that this is significant if one wants to camp and drive around in this fantastic but elongated country.
We have increased resources for hiking trails in the mountain areas. Last year, we presented a strategy for companies in cultural and creative industries to strengthen them. We know that it is a crucial part of what people find attractive about Sweden. For the companies that are active in the industry, we also know that the opportunity for the extended growth support can be an important part.
So a lot is happening in this area! I mean that it has provided opportunity for both breadth and focus.
Isak From (S)
Madam Speaker! It is clear that the government has no intention of producing a new strategy. At the same time, the Christian Democrats and the Minister for Enterprise are stuck in a Tidö Agreement which says that one is not even allowed to discuss Bromma's future.
In the long run, it means that one cannot discuss the development of Arlanda. It is also completely absurd in its own way. It is absurd from a national interest perspective. But it is also absurd because we need to market Sweden. Arlanda needs to be a competitive hub in all of Scandinavia.
It is also very clear that Stockholm does not even in Sweden need to be the absolute hub in the worldview. During this government's term, SJ has made a decision that they will shut down an economically sustainable line. This concerns the night train traffic from Gothenburg to Åre, Umeå and up to Kiruna. It is happening, even though there are passengers. It is quite strange, I can think.
When you ask the companies, the local community, and the regions, they say that infrastructure is central. I agree with the Minister for Enterprise. But then you also need to get all the parts to work together. It is not enough to refer to a permit, which turns out to be a new burden that has created new obstacles that irritate the companies.
I believe that the Minister for Enterprise also sees that a bit more and a bit better is needed. We cannot rely on the Norwegian sugar tourism. We need to get a few more here. It can also be an important part for the government to be able to lower unemployment somewhat. Doesn't the Minister for Enterprise think so?
Energi- och näringsministern Ebba Busch (KD)
Madam Speaker! I think Isak From is going a bit too far here with two things. He makes it appear as if I primarily object to the simplification of the situation as the government's primary measure, and I do not like when Norwegians are portrayed as sugar-dependent. That is perhaps my feedback regarding the interpellation. There, I think it is painted a bit too harshly. Otherwise, the government and I share Isak From's ambitions and stand behind the marking of the importance of the tourism industry.
I appreciate the challenge regarding aviation. It could perhaps have been a separate debate. I do not agree that we are locked into only speaking about Bromma and cannot speak about Arlanda. Had Infrastructure Minister Andreas Carlson been standing here, I believe he would have been jumping up and down. Indeed, very much is happening to pave the way for Arlanda to become a more competitive hub.
It is exactly as Isak From says. Sweden is so incredibly much larger than the capital region. That is also why the investment in transport infrastructure and in removing the aviation tax, which is abolished from July 1, 2025, is important in order to be able to introduce domestic flights.
One should not actively push for policies where, regionally, one tries to keep the airport under control and at the same time shames one's own employees and says: You shall not fly. It is somewhat opposing positions, one can still say.
I maintain that it is more important that we do and deliver what is requested in the area than to develop a new strategy. We are doing it in a good way regarding competence, infrastructure, and regulatory simplifications. I am happy to continue to be challenged and discuss this.
Source: The Swedish Parliament. The speeches come from the open data of the Riksdag, translated into English by AI, which may contain errors.