On the morning of his spouse’s birthday, Eric Holmer wakened earlier than 5 a.m. to an electronic mail that will ship his household of 5 from Wisconsin to the Baltic Sea. As he shook his spouse awake he stated, “Happy birthday. We’re custodians of a Swedish island now.”
Holmer, a 42-year-old from Madison, was simply named the American winner of Visit Sweden’s “Your Swedish Island” initiative, a international marketing campaign that drew greater than 2,200 video entries from 100 international locations. In May, the tourism group chosen 5 custodians to steward distant Swedish islands for a 12 months—permitting them to entry the island as usually as they need over the course of 12 months.
“As an island custodian, you are free to enjoy the island in your own way, as long as you follow the Right of Public Access and respect Swedish law,” the contest’s guidelines say. “You may swim, camp, set up a tent, invite guests and spend time in nature, provided you show consideration for wildlife, the environment and other visitors.”
The marketing campaign—which was solely open to worldwide vacationers, not Swedish residents—was constructed round a easy premise: as crowds pile up at the world’s most-visited destinations, Sweden has hundreds of islands that nearly no one has heard of, and it might like individuals to go there. Along with the island entry, the winner will get a journey voucher price $2,125 to go to the nation.
In addition to the US, the different winners hail from Canada, Germany, the Netherlands, and Switzerland. Holmer, the solely American winner, has by no means been to Sweden. He first heard about the contest on the radio whereas driving his son to a swim meet, and instantly considered a piece of household lore: in Swedish, his surname means “Islander.” How many individuals in the world have that connection? He figured they really had a shot at this.
“Fast ahead to May 4th and I woke early up that day, checked out my electronic mail, and noticed we had received!” he tells Condé Nast Traveler.
Holmer’s island, Skötbådan, is a granite outcropping in the northern Stockholm Archipelago near the historic island of Arholma, characterized by smooth cliffs, seabirds, and an unobstructed Nordic horizon. All five of the islands included in the contest are uninhabited and off-grid with no electricity, plumbing, or Wi-Fi. But Holmer’s, he soon learned, has something of a reputation.
