Tourism continues to grow in importance to the Icelandic economy, the latest figures from Statistics Iceland confirm. According to the preliminary results of the tourism satellite accounts 8.6% of Iceland's GDP in 2017 came from tourism. This is up from 8.1% in 2016 and 6.2% in 2015.
A total of 2,690,465 foreign visitors came to Iceland in 2017, an increase of 25.4% from the previous year. Spending by foreign visitors increased less, due in part at least to the fact that the average length of stay by foreign visitors has been dropping. Statistics Iceland estimates that foreign visitors spent 376.6 billion ISK in 2017 compared to 346 billion ISK in 2016, an increase of 8.8%.
Nearly a quarter of tourist spending is on accommodation or 85.6 billion ISK. Nearly a fifth (19%) of tourist spending was on tours and other trips, as 71.4 billion ISK was spent at travel agencies and reservation services and 17%, or 65 billion on air passenger transport with Icelandic carriers on domestic and international flights to and from Iceland.
Tourism continues to grow in importance to the Icelandic economy, the latest figures from Statistics Iceland confirm. According to the preliminary results of the tourism satellite accounts 8.6% of Iceland's GDP in 2017 came from tourism. This is up from 8.1% in 2016 and 6.2% in 2015.
A total of 2,690,465 foreign visitors came to Iceland in 2017, an increase of 25.4% from the previous year. Spending by foreign visitors increased less, due in part at least to the fact that the average length of stay by foreign visitors has been dropping. Statistics Iceland estimates that foreign visitors spent 376.6 billion ISK in 2017 compared to 346 billion ISK in 2016, an increase of 8.8%.
Nearly a quarter of tourist spending is on accommodation or 85.6 billion ISK. Nearly a fifth (19%) of tourist spending was on tours and other trips, as 71.4 billion ISK was spent at travel agencies and reservation services and 17%, or 65 billion on air passenger transport with Icelandic carriers on domestic and international flights to and from Iceland.
