page_title: Tourism in Sweden
section_title: Northern Sweden and winter sports
hierarchical_section_title: Tourism in Sweden / Northern Sweden and winter sports
context_page_description: Tourism in Sweden comprised a relatively small part of the Swedish economy in 2011 at 2.9% of the country's GDP; at this time, tourism generated 264 billion Swedish krona, 98.8 billion of which was foreign-visitor expenditure in Sweden. 7.1% of Swedish household income is spent on domestic tourism.
  One well-known tourist route is via train from southern to northern Sweden, viewing historical, natural and cultural attractions. This route is particularly popular among German tourists.
  According to the CIA World Factbook, Sweden was the 21st most-visited country in the world, with 7,627,000 arrivals in 2006.
context_section_description: In the winter, the Jukkasjärvi ice hotel is built every year near the northern town of Kiruna. Kiruna is also frequently used as a place from which to see the Aurora Borealis (Northern lights).
  Tourists in Sweden's north in the winter often take trips in reindeer sleighs with Sami drivers, in dog sleighs, or on snowmobiles. It is also possible to ski, with downhill resorts at Åre  and Vemdalen, and there are many cross country ski tracks throughout northern Sweden. Vasaloppet (in the beginning of March) is the oldest, longest and largest cross-country ski race in the world. Ice hockey is a popular sport in the winter. Many of the bays in the northern part of the country are frozen in winter, and it is possible to go ice yachting or ice skating on the ice. Many lakes are also frozen, so ice fishing (pimpelfiske) is quite common.
caption: The Ice Hotel in Jukkasjärvi
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