Our climate work in brief
Tourism depends on the elements that make a destination attractive and livable keeping in mind that “a good place to live is a good place to visit”: nature, biodiversity, landscapes, cultural heritage, and local quality of life. At the same time, the sector contributes significantly to greenhouse gas emissions and therefore to climate change.
Globally, tourism accounts for approximately 8-11% of total emissions. Without concrete action, emissions are expected to continue increasing in the coming years, while the effects of climate change are already impacting territories, communities and ecosystems through extreme weather events, floods, droughts, and rising sea levels. For a region such as Skåne, where tourism is closely connected to nature, landscapes, and local experiences, the climate challenge is not only about reducing negative impacts, but also about building a resilient and sustainable destination for the long term. For this reason, a clear and structured approach to climate action in tourism is needed.
Our Vision Tourism Matters
In response to this challenge, tourism matters because we see it as a key driver for a sustainable and inclusive future in Skåne. We work to strengthen tourism’s role in society, promote responsible hospitality, foster innovation, and ensure more balanced visitor flows across the region and throughout the year. Within this vision, we take a structured approach to climate action: we measure and understand tourism’s climate impact, and we reduce emissions by lowering our own footprint and encouraging more sustainable visitor behaviour. At the same time, we support a regenerative approach that restores ecosystems and biodiversity, and we rely on collaboration and financing to scale solutions and accelerate the transition. Together, these efforts aim to ensure that tourism in Skåne actively contributes to a more sustainable future.
A Shared Direction
Visit Skåne is working to integrate climate responsibility into regional tourism development in line with international, national, and regional climate goals. At the international level, the organisation is collaborating with other DMOs and global initiatives, by example NECSTour and UNTour to impact climate work into strategies and implementation. At the national level, this work contributes to Sweden’s target of achieving net-zero emissions by 2045. Regionally, this work builds on the vision “Tourism Matters”, introduced above, and is further supported by the Regional Development Strategy, Skåne’s Climate and Energy Strategy 2025–2030, together with collaboration involving municipalities, businesses, associations and tourism stakeholders across the region.
Key Challenges
The climate impact of tourism is primarily driven by transportation to and from destinations. While internal operational emissions remain relatively limited, the sector holds significant potential to influence travel behaviour, mobility choices, and consumption patterns.
The main challenges involve promoting sustainable mobility and transportation systems, reducing emissions across the entire tourism value chain, protecting biodiversity, and adapting destinations and infrastructure to the impacts of climate change. In addition, there is a need to strengthen access to reliable data and measurement tools capable of supporting informed decision-making and long term planning. To accelerate this transition, close collaboration between public authorities, tourism businesses, transport providers, food producers, and event organisers will be essential.
Biodiversity and Territorial Resilience
Skåne has a particularly rich but also vulnerable natural environment. Biodiversity plays a central role both in climate resilience and in the attractiveness of the region as a tourism destination. In this context, increasing importance is being placed on initiatives that support local and regenerative food production, promote sustainable fishing practices, develop nature-based experiences, protect landscapes and ecosystems and strengthen the use of sustainable solutions to address climate related challenges.
Looking Ahead
Visit Skåne’s climate plan is intended to serve as a practical framework for guiding future priorities, investments, and collaborations. The overall ambition is to support tourism development that combines competitiveness, climate responsibility, and quality of life, ensuring that Skåne remains an attractive place to live, work and visit in the future.
