Sustainable & creative experiences

Dalarna offers a strong and investable environment for sustainable and creative experiences rooted in culture, nature and innovation. As Sweden’s most visited region outside the metropolitan areas, Dalarna combines high visitor volumes with professional destination governance and long-standing public–private collaboration. This creates favourable conditions for scaling experience-based business models with long-term resilience.

With its central location in Sweden and four distinct seasons, Dalarna is a year-round destination offering cultural events, outdoor activities, heritage tourism and major sports experiences. The region records around 16 million commercial guest nights annually, with a steadily growing international share. In 2025, international overnight stays reached a record level, increasing by 11.5 percent—or over 104,000 additional guest nights—further cementing Dalarna’s position as one of Sweden’s leading international destinations, especially in winter. The travel and tourism industry generates SEK 11.1 billion in turnover and remains one of Dalarna’s core industries.

Dalarna has a strong cultural heritage and is strongly associated with what is often described as “the real Sweden” – red wooden houses, painted Dala horses, forests, open landscapes and rich wildlife. These authentic qualities are combined with modern destination development and event management. Five of Sweden’s ten most visited ski resorts are located in Dalarna, including Sälen, the country’s largest ski destination. Dalarna features a rich music scene and has produced many internationally renowned rock and pop artists. The region is also home to Dalhalla, a unique event venue widely regarded as one of the most impressive and beautiful outdoor arenas in Europe. In addition, Dalarna also includes the UNESCO World Heritage Site of the Great Copper Mountain in Falun, representing more than 700 years of industrial and cultural history.

Scalable destinations and accessibility

Ongoing investments are strengthening capacity, accessibility and sustainability, particularly in Malung-Sälen and Älvdalen. For example, Sälen and Idre recently have been designated as sustainable destinations, ensuring that the destinations take a systematic approach to their sustainability efforts. Scandinavian Mountains Airport enables direct international access to one of Scandinavia’s strongest winter destinations. Ongoing development projects such as the Scandinavian Mountains Railway, together with increasing focus on electric and autonomous mobility solutions, further support sustainable transport and long-term growth.

Professional destination platforms coordinated by Visit Dalarna support international marketing, yield management and product development. The ambition is to position Dalarna as one of Northern Europe’s most attractive destinations for sustainable, authentic and high-quality experiences all year round.

Innovation and creative industries

Innovation within the experience economy is reinforced through research, collaboration and digital distribution.

Visit Dalarna, the regional tourism organization for Dalarna, recently succeeded in achieving the internationally recognized ESCA gold certification. To obtain this certification, Visit Dalarna meet strict criterias in areas such as leadership, strategy, resources, internationalization, and collaboration with other stakeholders. Visit Dalarna is currently the only organization in the world with a gold certification.

At Dalarna University, the Centre for Tourism and Leisure Research (CeTLeR) conducts internationally competitive research in destination development, event management and heritage tourism, in close cooperation with industry actors.

Dalarna also hosts a growing creative and digital sector, including game development. In Falun, PlaygroundSquad – Europe’s oldest continuously operating game development education – supplies the Swedish and international gaming industry with specialised talent. The establishment of the Stiftelsen Spelkultur foundation in 2025 further strengthens the regional gaming ecosystem. Despite a challenging global investment climate, the Swedish game industry continues to grow, highlighting opportunities for long-term investment in creative and experience-based industries.