Icelandair: Record number of tourists to Iceland foreseen
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15-20% more tourists this summer
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A record breaking year in tourism foreseen
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75-100 thousand more tourists in 2011 than last year
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Foreign currency income increase by 30 billion ISK is estimated
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Added capacity and enhanced marketing efforts are the reasons
According to Icelandair booking status 50% more tourists will be arriving in Iceland in April by Icelandair than in the same month last year and 15% up from 2009, and the increase will be 15-20% over the spring and summer months ahead. In view of this it can be estimated that 75-100 thousand more tourists will be visiting Iceland than last year and the total number will be around 600 thousand.
"When we decided to increase our capacity by adding two Boeing 757 aircraft this year our target was to grow on the market to Iceland, and now the booking status is showing an estimated increase on that market of about 15-20% for the spring and summer. This is the result of the added capacity, the whole year marketing efforts of Icelandair and the positive effects of the “Inspired by Iceland” campaign. This is also in line with the plans we had earlier announced and is of course conditioned on no unforeseen changes", says Birkir Hólm Guðnason, Icelandair CEO.
The great increase in numbers in April can be attributed in part to the effects of the volcanic eruption last year, as a large number of passenger cancelled their flights in the second half of April last year. This also has some effect in May. Yet the increase from 2009 is also substantial and this April will be the largest in Icelandair history in terms of the number of passengers travelling to Iceland.
A similar number or around 500 thousand passengers visited Iceland in 2009 and 2010. Last spring a considerable increase in the number of tourists to Iceland was foreseen but the Eyjafjallajökull eruption was discouraging to many and for a short period a collapse in tourism was imminent. The combined marketing and promotional effort, "Inspired by Iceland", was influential in changing that perception and the tourism numbers for the year turned out similar to those in 2009.
Foreign currency income by tourism in Iceland was 155 billion ISK in 2009 and 2010, so the increase this year will add about 30 billion ISK to that number.
"Tourism is one of the foundations of the Icelandic economy and it depends heavily on the Icelandair route network as these numbers show clearly. When we grow our capacity as we do this year, an increase in the number of tourists in Iceland will follow, as our operations are very important to the industry. Thus it is a great pleasure, now that one year has passed since the start of the Eyjafjallajökull eruption, that we are looking at a predicted great increase not only this spring, but also in September and October, as our long time goal is to lengthen the tourism season and put extra focus on winter tourism", says Birkir.
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