Royal Djurgården’s Society gathers around 60 attractions in the hospitality industry in Djurgården, including museums, restaurants, gardens, an amusement park, and music and theater stages. Annually, approximately 15 million people visit Djurgården and over 3,500 people are employed each season.
Being part of the world’s first National City Park holds significant meaning. For those of us operating within the hospitality industry at Djurgården, it serves as a reminder of our heritage and our long-term perspective. People have come to Djurgården for leisure and recreation for over 400 years, and our goal is to welcome visitors for many centuries to come. It’s a collective commitment that unites the Royal Djurgården Society and our member attractions.
Today, the tourism industry is a rapidly growing sector, and we fulfill the ambition of constant development. Simultaneously, we must steward Djurgården for future generations. We have a particular responsibility to ensure that the developments here occur sustainably. We want to take long-term responsibility for this place and develop it sustainably in collaboration with our guests. In the coming project part, we turn to our guests to explore a shared responsibility for the location.
The Royal National City Park – both Royal and Popular
Djurgården, a royal park since 1452, has also been the people’s park and the most popular excursion destination for Stockholmers for centuries. Today, Djurgården has over 15 million visitors annually, making it the most visited part of the National City Park. At Djurgården the combination of culture and nature is unique, not only for Stockholm but also for Sweden and internationally.
Entertainment, culture, and nature in the National City Park
In the two clusters of entertainment and culture here – the Event Park and the Museum Park – visitors encounter many of Djurgården’s attractions. Through the Royal Djurgården Society, these attractions have worked together since 2017 based on a collectively developed identity – Royal Djurgården. The understanding that the sum of Djurgården is greater than its parts is one of our most important foundations. Collaboration is a natural part of what we stand for, a tool for development, and a prerequisite for solving the challenges of today and the future.
A sustainable development project with support from the National City Park
We at Djurgården want to contribute to solving today’s and tomorrow’s challenges. Through the project Roadmap Djurgården’s first parts (2019-2022), partly funded by the National City Park, the Royal Djurgården Administration, the Royal Djurgården Society, and our members gained strength and the opportunity to deepen the collective work for a sustainable destination. The project has yielded lasting results and contributed to a shift in position that would not have been possible otherwise.
One example is the shared communication platform for Djurgården’s sustainability work – sustainable.royaldjurgarden.se – which you are currently visiting. Many of the articles here are related to our collective work that has been carried out within the project Roadmap Djurgården.
Here are some examples:
Project Roadmap Djurgården part IV
Now we continue with a fourth and concluding part. Today, Royal Djurgården is a green destination with high credibility and serves as an example both nationally and internationally. Our guests come from near and far to meet, learn, eat well, and have fun. We meet their expectations with inspiration, commitment, and a warm welcome. With 22 museums, we can connect Swedish cultural heritage with modern sustainable thinking. With over 30 restaurants, we can pave the way for a more sustainable food culture. Through the food we serve, the activities and exhibitions we produce, and our way of welcoming our guests, we can inspire millions of visitors every year. It’s a brilliant opportunity for change.
Our guests are part of the effort for a sustainable destination
Surveys show that more and more people want to live sustainably and make necessary changes in their daily lives. However, when it comes to our leisure time, travel, and tourism, there is a clear attitude-behavior gap. In the concluding part of the project, we challenge ourselves to engage and inspire our guests through communication and nudging. We want to invite them to be part of our transition.
Did you know this about the Royal National City Park?
- The idea of collective and long-term protection of the area was conceived in the years around 1990, at a time when several major exploitation projects were in progress within and close to the future Royal National City Park in the capital Stockholm. The need for sustainable long-term and shared care to preserve the area’s great value for the future was widely noted.
- Official bodies, associations, organizations, societies, private persons and NGOs joined forces within the umbrella organization of the union of Ecoparks. In 1994 the proposition ‘National City Park: Ulriksdal–Haga–Djurgården–Brunnsviken’ was accepted with broad support within the government.
- The park stretches from Sörentorp and Ulriksdal in the north to Djurgården and the island Fjäderholmarna in the south. It spans through the municipalities Solna, Stockholm and Lidingö and is the most well-visited recreational area in the Stockholm region.
This work is related to the SDGs 8, 11, 12, 13, 15 and 17





