Värmland county, Sweden, has been recognised as a best practice by the Sustainable EU Tourism project for its projects to raise awareness among tourism stakeholders about the need to implement sustainability and digitalisation. 

After the pandemic, the focus of tourism strategy has shifted to sustainability as a central tool in the process of improving resilience and competitiveness. Stakeholders play a crucial role in this transition, but they face challenges due to limited human resources – often individuals or small teams – and a lack of skills and expertise, which make the transition to sustainable practices difficult. As a solution, various projects have been initiated to support the tourism industry. The initiatives include: 

• 1:1 consultations (2023-2024), in which Visit Värmland’s trained experts coach tourism companies on digitalisation and sustainability;
• the “Innovation in the Hospitality Industry” project (2021-2023), where innovation arenas are used as a method to create innovative digital solution to encourage collaboration and sustainability;
• the Smart Villages project (2021-2024) used an innovative method (place-based digital experiences) to improve hospitality businesses' knowledge and skills on how to be smart and create solutions. 

The DMO also commissioned mystery checks in accommodations by auditors from the label “Swedish Welcome” for convincing the hotels to obtain the eco-certification that the DMO has been promoting for many years. 

The present best practice is an example of how tourism destinations can successfully prompt collaboration between different stakeholders, including local authorities, tourism businesses, environmental organisations and the community. For more details on the key challenges the destination has faced, and the solutions implemented to address them, please refer to the attached document.