After the start of school, the number of tourists in the Stockholm archipelago drops drastically. To extend the tourist season has Stockholm Archipelago photographed the outer archipelago with a 360-degree camera – so that long-distance guests can see the destination in detail online.
Archipelago tourism brings in around one billion kroner a year and creates roughly 900 jobs. If the number of visitors in September is the same as in August, it would mean an additional SEK 50 million and provide 35 new jobs, says Marie Östblom at Stockholm Archipelago.
– The goal is to attract travelers who stay for a long time and extend the season for those who sell accommodation and nature experiences, which can be fishing trips and sailing, she says.
Foreign guests find their way back
In 2019, before the pandemic, the proportion of foreign guest nights was close to 15 percent. Two years later, that figure had been halved.
During the summer of 2022, the long-distance tourists returned. During the period June to September, the proportion of foreign guest nights was close to 14 percent of a total of 842,000 guest nights, according to statistics from Stockholm Archipelago.
The new marketing is estimated to cost around SEK 400,000 spread over three years, but how many more tourists it can bring is still unclear.
– We want to talk about quality instead of quantity, we want the right kind of tourists here who are looking for a nature experience, says Marie Östblom.
The project is a collaboration between the eight archipelago municipalities in the county, the Archipelago Foundation and Google.