Inbound tourism volume in Iceland 1950-2021

After plummeting by 76 percent in 2020 due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the number of international visitor arrivals in Iceland grew back again by 44 percent in 2021, reaching nearly 700 thousand in total. This figure was similar to the one recorded in the Nordic country in 2012.  

Point of entry

    As of 2020, most international travelers arrived at Keflavik airport, but the number of tourists decreased remarkably over the previous year, due to the pandemic. Keflavik airport is Iceland’s largest airport, southwest of its capital Reykjavik, and is nearly exclusively used for international flights. There, nearly 102 thousand visitors arrived from the United Kingdom, while travelers from the U.S. made up around 52 thousand arrivals in 2020.

Travel season

    Among visitors from Central and Southern Europe, North America and other countries, the summertime was most preferred for travelling to Iceland in 2017. Meanwhile, most tourists coming from the Nordic countries flew to Iceland in Spring or Autumn, while most British traveled there in the winter season.