2025 – Quality, Recognition and Development
A new year is knocking on the door. Here is Nature’s Best Sweden’s year in review for 2025, highlighting key moments, awards and recognitions, as well as offering a glimpse behind the scenes of the quality label for nature-based experiences.
During the year, we welcomed new companies that have been approved according to Nature’s Best Sweden’s quality criteria:
- Arctic Bath – approved in January 2025
- Värmlandsgården – approved in June 2025
- Hello Nature, approved during the intense final weeks of 2024 – and therefore also included on this year’s list of newly approved companies.
Naturally, we also wish to highlight all previously approved companies that throughout 2025 have continued to meet the label’s requirements and have systematically worked on sustainable business development. Choose quality – here you will find all approved companies.
Three new companies have begun the process towards approval and will continue working with that during 2026. We will, of course, share more about them and their offerings once they are approved.
Awards and recognitions
Several Nature’s Best companies have been awarded and recognised during the year – both nationally and internationally. Together, they demonstrate the breadth, quality and innovative capacity of approved companies:
- Stora Karlsö won Stora Turismpriset
- Arctic Bath was highlighted when Michelin Guide inspectors presented the most outstanding hotels in the Nordic region for the first time
- Rajamaa was awarded the Grand Travel Award Ekoturismpriset
- Kullabergsguiderna was named Årets serviceprofil (Service Profile of the Year ) in Höganäs municipality
- EcoAdventure and Horses of Taiga were nominated for the Grand Travel Award Ekoturismpriset 2026
Quality requires commitment – a glimpse behind the scenes
Becoming, and remaining, a Nature’s Best approved company is a long-term commitment for every individual business. Behind each brand lies systematic and continuous work, where owners, management and staff actively strive to develop sustainability and take responsibility. Everyone involved also recognises that there is always room for improvement.
During 2025, the labeling scheme, together with the companies, has worked on, among other things:
- establishing a follow-up structure for approved companies based on a multi-year cycle
- digital working meetings and workshops
- requirements for updated environmental plans, sustainability policies and ecotourism policies
- follow-up via the mandatory tool Stegräknaren, a Sustainability Management System (SMS)
- follow-up visits – digital or physical – for companies that have been approved for a longer period of time
A particular focus throughout the year has been communication: how sustainability efforts should be communicated to guests and partners in a transparent and credible way, as well as how the label communicates approved companies and the ongoing development of the label.
Looking ahead
The work has also included preparations for new EU regulations relating to environmental claims and consumer protection. Naturturismföretagen (The Swedish Nature and Ecotourism Association), as the principal organisation behind Nature’s Best, is reviewing how certified companies and the quality label should adapt to these changes. This includes the Green Claims Directive (which was withdrawn), CSRD, and Empowering Consumers for the Green Transition (ECGT), which will be introduced as new legislation in Sweden from March 2026. This work will continue throughout 2026.
Would you like to contribute to a more sustainable future? Choose an approved company when booking your next nature-based experience – or, if you are a business owner, when seeking new partners.
Why choose a quality-labeled ecotourism company for adventures in nature? Get inspiration>>
Happy New Year!
