Besök och möten - Kristdemokraterna

Summary
The tourism and meetings industry, in this report jointly called the hospitality industry, is our
fastest growing industry. It employs 162 300 people in small to medium sized businesses, and is
of great importance for Sweden’s prosperity as it also affects other industries at their locations.
The Christian Democrats care about the Hospitality Industry from an ideological perspective. E.g
all humans unique and equal value, the thought of stewardship for a sustainable society and the
thought of subsidiarity which tell us about the importance of decisions taken at the lowest and
most efficient level. With more visitors, an increased amount of international meetings placed in
Sweden and developed tourist locations from north to south we can see people’s possibilities for
recreational activities increasing, chances for employment are created and our country gets
increased opportunities for financial growth.
The Christian democrats have a large amount of suggestions in order to achieve this. They
concern all four of the foundations that the tourism science usually divides the industry in –
eating, doing, lodging and travelling.
For starters the Christian democrats observe today’s system with different VAT levels to be
complicated, bureaucratic and unfair to the most work intense parts of the hospitality industry.
An important part in stimulating growth in the tourism and meetings industry is to simplify the
VAT and make the boundaries more clear and easier to understand.
The meetings industry with its conferences, conventions etc., has a large growth potential in
Sweden. Swedes are regarded as contract upholding, having a working infrastructure and cleanly
in nature. Every participant at an international conference generates approximately 3 300–7 500
SEK per day. In order to stimulate international meetings taking place in Sweden the Christian
democrats suggests an increase of the grant to VisitSweden and that their mandate to work
foreign markets should extend. At the same time, public enterprises and authorities should lead
the process of arranging international meetings in Sweden.
Eating
The Christian democrats stand behind the vision “Sweden – the new food country”. Swedish
food culture can be more shown in meetings with international guests. Municipalities should get
the opportunity to seek sponsoring by programs from the European Union, in order to develop
local food-maps for visitors, with restaurants, cafés, direct sales of produce and other tourist
attractions with Swedish food and drinks.
Lodging
It is important to facilitate lodging for different categories of visitors. Groups that often are
overlooked are people with disabilities and single parents travelling with children. Hotels,
restaurants and congress centers should have comprehensible information regarding availability.
When it comes to the extensive amount of camping visitors the municipalities should overlook
their rules and regulations regarding stops for trailers.
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