Sweden just became the first country to be prescribed by doctors
By James Herring on Friday, October 10, 2025
Sweden has become the first country to be offered “on prescription” by doctors as part of a tourist board campaign.
The Swedish Prescription, is rewriting the rules of wellness travel by getting doctors to prescribe a trip to the Nordic nation as part of health treatment.
Launched by Visit Sweden (and agency Prime Weber Shandwick), the campaign taps into research-backed benefits of nature immersion, cultural engagement, and classic Swedish habits like sauna-and-plunge therapy or fika breaks.
At the center is a tongue-in-cheek video featuring a deadpan “doctor” promoting parasympathetic relaxation while half-submerged in a frozen lake or basking in 24/7 sunlight.
Make sure you stick around for the hilarious disclaimer at the end.
Despite its satirical edge, the campaign leans into medical endorsement.
Backed by doctors from four countries and verified by a senior professor at the Karolinska Institute, it outlines how forest bathing, wild swimming, and sky-gazing can measurably improve health.
The supporting prescription PDF even encourages viewers to take it to their real-life physicians.
Within just a few days of launch, the campaign generated more than 1,200 media articles across 30 countries and was featured on the BBC and CBS Mornings in the US.
The campaign leans on Sweden’s natural assets—265,000 islands, 100,000 lakes, and a constitutionally protected right to roam (allemansrätten)—and cultural concepts like friluftsliv (open-air living) and lagom (balance).
It’s a clever way to market a “green break” to a wellness-focused global audience, tapping into a sector projected to hit $2.1 trillion by 2030.
“This initiative highlights the benefits of Sweden’s nature and lifestyle as a research-backed growing movement in patient care,” said Steve Robertshaw, Senior PR Manager at Visit Sweden.
As one commenter put it, the “side effects” bit might be the most effective thing to come out of tourism marketing this year.
This latest campaign slots neatly into a growing trend of self-aware Nordic tourism ads.
In 2024, Visit Oslo went viral with a deadpan video featuring an unimpressed local shrugging off his own city’s appeal. The clip pulled in over 20 million views, proving that irony travels well.
