Foreign travelers seem to be growing more cost conscious, the latest data on foreign credit card spending in Iceland suggests. According to data collected by the Center for Retail Studies foreign credit card spending at grocery stores was up 16% during the first five months of this year, compared to the same time last year. During the same time the number of foreign travelers was up 5.6%.
The increase in spending at grocery stores comes at the expense of eating out, the data suggests. Spending at restaurants was up only 4%, less than the number of foreign travelers, suggesting more and more people are buying their lunch and even dinner at the local supermarket. The director of the Center for Retail Studies told the local newspaper Fréttablaðið that the reason for this shift in spending was no doubt due to the appreciation of the Icelandic currency, the Króna. As the Króna has gone up in value foreign visitors get fewer Króna for their Euros or Dollars, which means all goods and services in Iceland have become more expensive for foreign visitors.
While traveler spending at grocery stores has gone up it is dwarfed by spending at restaurants: Foreign travelers spent 9.4 billion ISK at Icelandic restaurants during the first five months of the year, compared to 3.3 billion spent at grocery stores.
Foreign travelers seem to be growing more cost conscious, the latest data on foreign credit card spending in Iceland suggests. According to data collected by the Center for Retail Studies foreign credit card spending at grocery stores was up 16% during the first five months of this year, compared to the same time last year. During the same time the number of foreign travelers was up 5.6%.
The increase in spending at grocery stores comes at the expense of eating out, the data suggests. Spending at restaurants was up only 4%, less than the number of foreign travelers, suggesting more and more people are buying their lunch and even dinner at the local supermarket. The director of the Center for Retail Studies told the local newspaper Fréttablaðið that the reason for this shift in spending was no doubt due to the appreciation of the Icelandic currency, the Króna. As the Króna has gone up in value foreign visitors get fewer Króna for their Euros or Dollars, which means all goods and services in Iceland have become more expensive for foreign visitors.
While traveler spending at grocery stores has gone up it is dwarfed by spending at restaurants: Foreign travelers spent 9.4 billion ISK at Icelandic restaurants during the first five months of the year, compared to 3.3 billion spent at grocery stores.