Tourism

From Iceland FAQ

To fully appreciate the effect tourism has on Iceland, remember the population is only 330,000. When I went to Iceland in 2012, I was one of 673,000 foreign tourists. The figure for 2015 was 1.25 million and the latest figures are showing over 1.5 million so far this year. That's a 36% increase.

2016 Tourists
April 95,000
May 124,000
June 186,000
July 236,000
August 242,000

As you can see, there's almost half as many tourists in May as in August. Interestingly, over half of tourists from the UK in 2015 visited Iceland in the winter time. In fact, more than 1 in 3 of all winter tourists were from the UK. In May, UK tourism reaches it's lowest level with only 1 in 8 hailing from these shores.

While the increase in tourism brings many economic benefits, it does have a negative effect on the environment.