With perennial favourites in southern Europe battling both crowds and heatwaves, more and more of us are looking for alternatives. Hence the rise of the “coolcation”.
But if we’re all making the same moves, switching Barcelona for Bergen, Mallorca for Malmö and Lisbon for the Finnish Lakelands, we’re just going to change what the overtourism map looks like.
In a bid to battle the problem before it really begins in Sweden, outdoor brand Haglöfs has come up with a guide to the country’s least visited places.
Created using historical mobile network data from Telia, Sweden’s largest mobile operator, and satellite imagery, Haglöfs has created Unvisited Sweden, a map of 24 locations that may not have been touched by humans in modern times (or at least, since the advent of the cell phone).
“It’s fantastic that more people want to experience the Swedish outdoors. But when everyone gravitates to the same destinations, part of what makes nature so special can be lost,” Victor Adler, chief marketing officer at Haglöfs, said.
