Overnight Stays Broke Records - Iceland Tourism Update

Overnight Stays Broke Records - Iceland Tourism Update

As per a report from Visir, a local media, “Tourism rates and summer seasons in Iceland have positively impacted the industry. The report states that overnight stays touched an all-time high record within the first nine months, crossing the 7.1 million mark recorded in the nation.

Overnight stays by tourists touched a peak in September, with 11,677 rooms booked and even more required as per the Tourism Association’s executive director, Jóhannes Þór Skúlasyn.

He further added that even though the growth was recent, they observed that the requirement is greater. At least one large or medium-sized hotel is required in the East. Similarly, a minimum of two in the North, and one each in the north and south of the Westfjords is needed.

The director observed new trends in tourism this year as compared to the last year had extended stays. Tour groups from Germany and America stayed longer this year. Car rentals are used to observe this figure as cars were being rented for longer than before.

Considering Europe’s financial situation as a factor, he added that the duration of stays by the visitors is predicted to be shortened. Moreover, energy costs and rising inflation will affect people’s buying decisions.

However, Iceland remains Americans’ favourite destination for trips. They continued booking flights and showed that the war and energy crisis haven’t impacted this nationality group as much as they did Europe.

According to CAPA (Centre for Aviation), Iceland’s tourism sector has observed a complete recovery this summer. The number of tourists visiting has touched 96% of the 2019 numbers.

Tourism charges are estimated to improve even more as it is expected that 1.7 million overseas visitors will come to Iceland this year. And by the following year, this number will likely surge by another 600,000.

Dr Gunnar Haraldsson says, “Next year, we predict that there will be over 2.3 million tourists. However, these forecasts must have a certain caveat because many uncertainties can affect them. We are looking at card turnover, and according to the forecast, we expect the amount they will spend to be around 250 billion this year and around 330 next year.”

There’s a recovery for winter tourism as well with certain signals of seasonal fluctuations. Around 4.5 million overnight stays are recorded this year but the number is expected to touch  5.5 million next year. Another forecast shares numbers for the long term with 3.5 million foreign visitors expected to come to Iceland in 2030, according to Haraldsson.