Ramsvik’s sustainability development

Ramsvik Stugby & Camping wants to be part of creating a more sustainable tourism industry and inspire other actors, stakeholders, suppliers, guests, and staff to engage in environmental and sustainability issues. We are committed to going beyond current laws and regulations in the environmental and sustainability areas.

In October 2019, our solar system was ready, which includes solar panels on the roof of the restaurant, the roof of the reception and on most roofs in the entire cottage village. 618 solar panels (1199 square meters) on a total of 86 separate roof surfaces will make Ramsvik Stugby & Camping self-sufficient in energy throughout the year. Estimated annual production = the facility’s total annual electricity consumption, approx. 230,000 kWh.

The amount of climate-smart, green solar energy is equivalent to the annual consumption of 15 average villas or could drive an electric car 36 times around the world.

This is the Swedish hospitality industry’s largest solar cell facility and it is completely unique that we produce our entire annual consumption. The plant is also optimized and controlled in detail at panel level via the SolarEdge system. The optimizers guarantee safety, which is a requirement from us because so many people stay here in the summer.

During the tourist season, most of the solar energy will be consumed at the facility, but during autumn, winter and spring there will be a significant surplus of green, climate-smart solar energy that is fed out for sale on the public grid.

Ramsvik aims to offer our guests an environmentally sustainable stay and experience at the facility. To ensure quality in our environmental work, we have applied for certification through the environmental label Green Key in 2025. This will help us make continuous improvements and set annual goals. We will educate and inform both staff and guests about environmental and sustainability issues to increase environmental awareness and engagement.
In addition to our solar power system, we do the following to reduce our impact on the environment:

• Three charging stations for electric cars
• We have water-saving showerheads in all the showers at the facility.
• Several of the cottages have “power guards” that disconnect unnecessary electricity consumption (water heaters and heating) when using the stove and oven.
• In the shower sections of the service building, showers are now free but controlled by a push-button that limits the time spent in the shower. This saves hot water.
• Our restaurant serves, whenever possible, ingredients from local suppliers, such as fish from Smögen’s fish auction and meat from Kustcharken.
• Whenever possible, we coordinate deliveries to the restaurant and shop to minimize the number of deliveries.
• We purchase organic food for the restaurant.
• We use LED lighting everywhere possible.
• We pick up litter in the nature reserve.
• We work to reduce food waste in the restaurant.
• We recycle paper, glass, batteries, and fats.
• Our rental boats have 4-stroke engines.
• We use an electric grass trimmer instead of a gas-powered mower.
• We are working on improving waste sorting in dialogue with the municipality.
• We purchase environmentally labeled cleaning products.
• We use 100% renewable electricity.
• We measure and monitor our water, electricity, and energy consumption, as well as the amount of waste, in order to reduce our resource consumption.

Our guests are sustainable from a tourism industry perspective, as 80% of guests travel 50 miles or less to come to us.

We at Ramsvik love to collaborate with others. We have several partners in the camping industry where we develop our companies together to meet the guests’ demands and wishes more quickly. We also collaborate with several companies in our local area that complement our product and make it better. We live by:

Everyone does what they do best – We do what we do best and then we collaborate with other companies to meet the guest’s wishes. Then the guest’s experience will be better and it benefits more companies, which creates more jobs and greater contributions to the state treasury (better care, school and welfare…).

We are stronger together than alone – We do not see other companies in the industry as competitors, but as colleagues.

We share this approach with other companies in the camping industry and it benefits us all – and also the guests because we develop faster and can offer an ever better product.

We share – If there is something we are better at, we are happy to share it with others. And we are very happy that there are many other companies who think the same, it makes us all better.

We work actively with our profitability – A profitable company can work better with sustainability issues. Without the profitability, we would not have been able to build our solar plant.

At Ramsvik, we want to make a positive contribution to the local community and work for social sustainability for our staff, guests, and other stakeholders. We are committed to promoting local culture, such as in the selection of food, design, and products, and strive to ensure quality in operations regarding service, routines, and purchases. For example, we only hire local craftsmen when we renovate, rebuild, or extend.

We actively work on gender equality and diversity issues. All people should have equal opportunities to work at and visit our business. We hire staff for all positions without discrimination based on gender, age, ethnicity, or religion. We guarantee a safe and secure working environment and strive to be an attractive and inclusive workplace that cares for the well-being and health of our staff. We do not tolerate any form of harassment or sexual exploitation at our facility.

We are part of the “Hållbarhetsklivet”, which works for a sustainable hospitality industry in Western Sweden.