Avoid Summer Crowds: New Service Measures Parking Pressure in Skåne in Real-Time

A new innovative service developed by Visit Skåne now allows visitors to monitor traffic pressure at seven popular parking areas in Skåne that often experience summer congestion. This free public service provides real-time information for motorists heading to popular destinations.

Uncrowded.se is a free service and innovation under development by Visit Skåne that facilitates planning car trips to nature areas. The service provides an overview of parking pressure at several locations, both in real-time and for future time periods. The aim is to spread visitor flow over time and place, thereby reducing overall impact. At the same time, it allows visitors to better plan their trips, avoid crowds, and have a more enjoyable experience at their destination.

“Now we are testing the service live for the first time after an intensive development phase. The hope is that visitors will feel that Uncrowded is a good service and plan in advance to avoid surprises with full parking lots. We hope this will lead to users planning their nature visits in a way that benefits both their own experience and the location,” says Josefine Carlsson, project manager for Smart Nature at Visit Skåne AB.

Vehicle counters with solar cell solutions have been installed in the road surface to register vehicles entering and exiting the parking areas. Data is collected and analyzed, enabling real-time information and forecasts about the parking situation for nature-loving vacationers. The counters use privacy-protected technology without identifying individual vehicles or individuals.

“The Uncrowded service has been developed as part of Visit Skåne’s innovation work aimed at developing a sustainable destination. Currently, there are no functioning methods to both make nature accessible and at the same time avoid too high visitor pressure on nature and local communities. There is great interest in finding solutions for balanced visitor flows both nationally and internationally,” says Hélene Östberg, Brand and Innovation Manager at Visit Skåne AB.

Visit Skåne Measures Pressure at These Parking Areas:

• Falsterbo Strandbad
• Flommens golf club (Måkläppen nature reserve)
• Kämpinge beach
• Kåseberga large parking (Ales Stenar)
• Kåseberga harbor (Ales Stenar)
• Skrylle nature reserve
• Sandhammaren

This initiative is made possible with the help of municipalities, the County Administrative Board of Skåne, and the Swedish Transport Administration as managers of test sites.

For more information about this innovative service and its impact on sustainable tourism in Skåne, visit the original press release.