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ECONOMY

Foreign tourists drawn to Sweden by weak krona (and that’s both good and bad)

Sweden's weak krona could attract more tourists to the country this summer – which could have both a positive and a negative impact.

Foreign tourists drawn to Sweden by weak krona (and that's both good and bad)
Pedestrians at the Strandvägen street in central Stockholm. Photo: Jessica Gow/TT

A good thing for the Swedish economy. When tourists with high purchasing power spend their money in Sweden, they create jobs and growth for the tourism industry, which has a positive effect on the country’s GDP, the main metric to measure a healthy economy.

A bad thing for Swedes holidaying at home, as the influx of foreign tourists may push up prices at hotels and restaurants.

“And that would then show in inflation figures and could make it tougher for Swedish households to holiday at home,” Torbjörn Isaksson, chief analyst at banking giant Nordea, told Swedish news agency TT. “But I don’t want to exaggerate that effect,” he said.

German and French people have, thanks to the euro, increased their purchasing power in Sweden by 30 percent since 2014, according to TT.

EDITOR’S PICK:

Brits also have more money to spend in Sweden than they used to, with the pound rising 23 percent on the krona in ten years.

And for Americans, the dollar has increased 62 percent in value compared to the krona. One dollar now costs 10.70 kronor, compared to just above 6.80 kronor ten years ago.

That’s of course if you get paid in euros, pounds or dollars. If you’re a German, French, Brit or American who gets paid in kronor in Sweden, you will find that not only did your holiday in Sweden get more expensive, but you also have less money to spend when you go back home to visit friends and relatives.

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TRAVEL NEWS

Which Swedish roads are set to be busiest around Midsummer?

What are the peak traffic hours around Midsummer and is there anyway you can beat the queues? Here's The Local's guide to one of Sweden's busiest weekends of the year.

Which Swedish roads are set to be busiest around Midsummer?

What are the peak traffic hours?

Between noon and 6pm on Thursday, 9am-2pm on Friday and 2-6pm on Sunday.

Which roads are expected to be the worst?

The big motorways are expected to be busy. That’s for example the E4 motorway, which runs from Helsingborg to Stockholm and then all the way up the northeast coast.

Other typical bottlenecks are the E6 between Malmö and Strömstad via Gothenburg and the E22 between Norrköping and Kalmar, as well as the E14 between Sundsvall and Åre.

Roads leading to popular Midsummer destinations, such as Lake Siljan (or Dalarna in general), the roads around Lake Mälaren, and roads leading towards the archipelagos in Stockholm, Gothenburg and Bohuslän are also likely to be packed with holidayers.

See the map at the bottom of the article.

What can I do to avoid the queues?

The best tip is to avoid travelling during peak hours, but other than that, there’s not much, to be honest.

You could stay home or take public transport (which will probably also be busy), but neither is likely to be a realistic option for you this late in the game. If everyone on the road drives responsibly and respectfully, that’s the best way to avoid total gridlock.

If you’re considering alternative routes to avoid the motorway queues, think twice. Of course accidents could happen anywhere, but the major dual carriageways are generally safer than minor roads where you risk head-on collisions with overtaking drivers.

If there is an accident and you get stuck in a queue as a result, the motorways – at least one lane – are also likely to reopen to traffic faster than some of the smaller roads.

So the best thing is to allow extra time for travel, stick to the speed limit and put up with the queues. If that means driving slower than the speed limit, so be it. Don’t overtake for the sake of it. Bring good music and snacks in the car to make the journey part of the holiday.

It goes without saying that you shouldn’t drive while under the influence of alcohol (the drink-drive limit in Sweden is blood alcohol content of 0.02 percent or 0.10 milligrams per litre) and remember that you may still be over the limit the morning after drinking.

Tiredness is also a cause of dangerous driving, so make sure you get enough sleep and take plenty of breaks along the way. This is always important, but even more so on the way home on Sunday after a weekend of late nights and Midsummer revelry.

The map below, issued by the Swedish Traffic Administration, shows the roads that are expected to get the most traffic during Midsummer.

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