🇮🇸 Tourism in Iceland Rivals Record Year

By Elías Thorsson July 18, 2023
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Lava spurts and flows after the eruption of a volcano in the Reykjanes Peninsula, Iceland, July 12, 2023, as seen in this handout picture taken from a Coast Guard helicopter. Civil Protection of Iceland/Handout via REUTERS THIS IMAGE HAS BEEN SUPPLIED BY A THIRD PARTY MANDATORY CREDIT

In June, 861,130 passengers traveled through Iceland’s international airport Keflavíkurflugvöllur, according to a press release from the national airport and air navigation service provider Isavia. This marks a year-on-year increase of 25% and vastly exceeds previous estimates.

The tourism industry has fully recovered from its effective shutdown during the COVID-19 epidemic and international passenger departures during the month were around 233 thousand, which is a similar number to the record year 2018.

Travelers from the US were by far the biggest group, making up 43.3% of departing passengers, followed by Germans in second place with 7.6%.

Earlier this month, Iceland made headline news when the third volcanic eruption in as many years began on the Reykjanes peninsula and the chance to see a live volcano in action is likely to help stoke the tourism fire currently burning in the country.