Nordic Tourism Plan 2025-2030  

The Nordic Tourism Plan 2025-2030 consists of three main sections; Competitive Nordics, Attractive Nordics, and Innovative Nordics. Sustainability is a cross cutting theme in all the three sections and an underlying premiss for the plan and the recommendations made for future collaboration. Together with sustainability the priority areas for cooperation are factors that strengthen the competitiveness of Nordic Tourism.   

Sustainability within tourism is simultaneously a critical challenge and an opportunity for the Nordic region. As tourism grows, so does its environmental, economic, and social impact, necessitating a compre­hensive and collaborative approach to ensure a balance between development and preservation. Working towards sustainability in tourism requires a balanced approach, addressing environmental, economic, and social impacts. Through collaborative efforts, innova­tive solutions, and a commit­ment to sustainable practices, the Nordic region can lead the way in creating a tourism industry that benefits all.   

Tourism contributes to carbon emissions, particularly through transportation. Mitigating these effects is crucial in the fight against climate change. Additionally, tourism can disrupt natural habitats, threatening biodiversity. Effective resource management is essential, for instance concerning water and energy consumption in high-traffic tourist areas. Implementing sustain­able practices can help protect the nature and natural landscapes that attract visitors to the Nordic region. 

While tourism bolsters local economies, an overreliance on the sector can create vulnerabilities, as experienced during economic downturns or pandemics. Ensuring economic resilience involves diversifying local economies and improv­ing job quality within the tourism sector. Workers must receive fair wages and work under decent conditions to maintain the industry's sustainability and attractiveness as an employer.

The dual role of the platform economy, increasing flexibility to work vs. uncertainty about income, is recognized as a characteristic of labour conditions in tourism. Seasonal fluctuations pose signifi­cant challenges, with peaks and troughs in tourist numbers affecting local economies and environments. Measures to promote year-round tourism can help mitigate these effects, providing more stable economic benefits and reducing environmental pressures during peak seasons. 

Tourism can displace local commu­nities, disrupt traditional lifestyles and lead to the commercialisation of culture and the erosion of cultural heritage. Managing visitors to avoid overtourism is essential to prevent social and environmental stress, ensuring that the presence of tourists does not degrade the experience for both visitors and locals. When managed with conside­ration of local interests, tourism can enhance wellbeing of local communities and indigenous people, provide jobs, increase service offering for residents and support the appreciation of local culture and heritage. 

Robust regulation and effective enforcement are vital for promoting sustainable tourism practices. Policymakers must collaborate with businesses and communities to create and enforce standards that protect the environment, support local economies, and preserve cultural heritage. Such collaboration ensures that sustainable tourism is a shared goal for all stakeholders.  

Resilience is essential for profitable business activities and for the competitiveness of the tourism sector, especially in crises like those experienced in recent years. The actions taken to increase competi­tive­ness should be efficient and appropriate for tourism businesses of all sizes. Strengthening knowledge-based decision making, facilitating the transition to sustain­able development and growth, and supporting skills development of the tourism workforce are all important elements in relation to the strengthening the competitiveness of the tourism sector. Collaboration and close networking between policy and decision makers, national and regional tourism organisations, tourism businesses, and other tourism stakeholders are a pre­requisite for the actions and for sustainability and competitiveness of the sector across the Nordic region.   

Comparable and comprehensive statistics and data 
Comparable and comprehensive statistics and data are essential tools for strategic planning, management, and decision-making in the tourism sector. They provide a foundation for evidence-based policies and initiatives that contri­bute to the sustainable growth and competitiveness of the Nordic tourism industry. A more structured collaboration is proposed to improve the quality and comparability of data for national policymaking, simultaneously providing possibilities for increased data sharing and common Nordic statistics and analysis projects. Enabling increased data sharing will also accelerate the creation of valuable sustainable solutions.  In addition to data, it is important to share more informed insights and perspectives on new phenomena, weak signals and emerging trends. This would facili­tate preparedness for global crises and enable early intervention in smaller issues across the Nordic region.

Transition to sustainable development and growth
Climate change will have a signifi­cant impact on tourism and the impacts can be both positive and negative. These changes should and could be considered together. Facili­tating the transition to sustainable development and growth in the tourism industry requires a multi­faceted approach that involves all stakeholders, including governments, businesses, local communities, and tourists. Promoting the green tran­sition, circular economy, responsible business practices, community involvement and empowerment as well as sustainable tourism practices among tourists are of equal importance for Nordic collaboration. 

Skilled workforce 
Tourism generates employment opportunities and serves as a catalyst for economic growth and diversification. A skilled workforce is an essential asset for the Nordic tourism sector. It contributes to service excellence, customer satis­faction and safety, destination image, and overall industry compe­titiveness. Investing in the education, training, and professional develop­ment of the workforce is essential for sustaining and enhancing the region's tourism industry. At the same time, skills supply is one of the tourism industry’s biggest challenges and after Covid, the industry faces a shortage of labour across the region. Working together in the Nordics, on developing employee wellbeing and competence could help improve long term growth of the sector.  

Over the last decades, global trends and new digital technologies have transformed the tourism industry in the Nordic region. Innovation based on digital technology has facilitated the emergence of new and disruptive business models which have changed the way businesses operate as well as the way clients and markets respond. These changes are driven by what have become internationally dominant companies and countless other technology and data-driven businesses capitalising on oppor­tunities within tourism. Technological innovation and use of new techno­logies are, however, no less impor­tant to the vast array of smaller tourism businesses throughout the region.  

Digital innovation can strengthen local economies and capabilities and increase the value of customer experience and the value of products and services offered. The importance of social media and interactive digital services in reaching new and niche markets will only grow in importance in future years.  

Supporting the industry’s ability to adopt emerging technologies can play a significant role in achieving sustainability. There are important opportunities in using digital technology to increase safety and to control traffic and overcrowding. Technology can enhance data collection and management, leading to more informed decision-making. Smart digital solutions can guide tourists towards more eco-friendly choices. Efficient use of data, digital technology and AI are crucial to counteract seasonality. AI and emerging technologies enable streamlining and improving the quality of operations and services as well as scaling sustainable and circular business models in the Nordic tourism industry. Emerging technologies can play a crucial role in solving ecological challenges, and in working towards increased, equity, and social inclusion.  

With data at the core of business models, concerns related to cyber­security and secure data manage­ment become more central. These concerns should be addressed in order to leverage the potential of digital technologies for the increased competitiveness and sustainability of the industry.  

Scaling existing green and sustainable solutions 
A big potential lies in scaling existing, green, and sustainable, solutions throughout the Nordics and beyond, rather than developing new pilots. Rapid implementation of solutions and technologies that are ready for market will increase the speed of change towards Vision 2030. Scaleup of existing solutions is essential in the Nordic tourism industry where the startup scene is fragmented and where a relatively large proportion of enterprises are SMEs with limited capacity for technological innovation.  

Strengthening smart destinations  
To increase the sustainability, attractiveness and competitiveness of Nordic destinations, efforts should be continued to lift and encourage new and disruptive digital ideas, with focus on smart destinations. Cross-sectoral innovation cooperation, in particular with technology developers, is needed to increase the speed of the transition. Increased digital tourism requires strengthening tourism industry ecosystems, where best practices can be shared and where arenas are created for the pooling of knowledge and resources, innovation collaboration and scaling.  

In the international market, the Nordic region is often regarded as a distinctive and inspiring destination characterized by common ideas and values. Even though the characte­ristics of the different countries vary, this shared image creates a dynamic and positive appeal for the Nordic region. 

International competition is intensifying with more nations investing increasingly in the promotion of their own countries and destinations. Through a balanced and proactive promotion strategy, based on the development of more sustainable, regenerative, and authentic tourism products, the Nordics will be able to continue to attract visitors while preserving their unique identity and values. Working collaboratively to strengthen the Nordic region as a unified, appealing, and sustainable destination is the key to facing growing competition and maintaining the position of the Nordics as a prominent tourist region with a dynamic and attractive tourism industry on the global stage. The appeal and attractiveness of destinations must be achieved through strengthening environ­mental and social sustainability, wellbeing of local communities and through making the tourism sector an attractive workplace. 

Destination development to benefit local communities 
An attractive tourism industry should have an enabling and positive impact on local communities and take account of the needs of both visitors and residents. It is important to explore residents’ sentiments towards tourism and develop tools that empower residents to participate in tourism development and contribute to the regeneration of natural and cultural resources of destinations. This can e.g., be achieved through involving residents in destination management, the development of visitor strategies and responsible marketing of tourism destinations.   

Attracting tourists through responsible marketing   
It is important to continue collaboration on attracting more sustainable type of tourists to the region. This refers to tourists travelling outside peak-season and outside hot-spots, tourists who stay for a longer time and those interested in local products and experiences while being respectful of local values. To achieve results in attracting the more sought-after visitors, more product development and more promotional activities are needed towards both the travel trade and end-consumers. This must be achieved with more creativity and in a more efficient manner than our competitors do. 

Attracting partners in other sectors 
Due to tourism’s intersectoral nature, there is huge potential in the collaboration of the tourism sector with other sectors. More awareness could e.g., be given to the Nordic region as a travel destination for food and culture travel, a collaboration which could benefit the image and exports of both the food and culture sectors. Another intersectoral potential can be found in further developing business tourism, through stronger focus on attracting congresses and confe­ren­ces related to strongholds within Nordic business sectors, such as e.g., such as energy, life science, digital services and fintech. In addition to the thematic collaboration, the cross-border cooperation between tourism service providers and enforcement and rescue authorities is essential in facilitating e.g., cross-border service providing.