New estimates of Tourism Satellite Account confirm the increase of Icelandic tourism

A new compilation of the Icelandic Tourism Satellite Account (TSA) for the period 2009-2013 has been produced by Statistics Iceland, rigorously establishing the economic contribution of tourism to the Icelandic national economy. The TSA was produced through collaboration with the Icelandic Tourism Research Centre and funded by the Ministry of Industries and Innovation.

The rapid increase of counted inbound tourism in Iceland in the period 2009-2013 is confirmed by increased inbound tourism expenditure that went up in nominal terms from ISK 92.3 bn. in 2009 to ISK 165.1 bn. in 2013. At the same time the growth in nominal terms of domestic tourism expenditure rose from 59.6 bn. to 87.8 bn. (see table below).

Internal tourism consumption in Iceland, 2009-2013, current prices (ISK bn.)

*Comprising data on summer houses (imputed rentals) and Icelandic employer’s expenses for business trips of their employees

The TSA therefore confirms the current growth in Icelandic tourism. “These results shows very clearly the importance of the Icelandic tourist sector in economic terms given by the consumptions of both foreigners and Icelanders”, says Dr. Cristi Frenţ, researcher at the Icelandic Tourism Research Centre (ITRC), who has been working on this project for the past two years.

In relative terms, one can see that inbound tourism expenditure has constantly increased its share in total internal tourism consumption (from 52% in 2010 to 60% in 2013), domestic tourism is still an important pillar of the Icelandic tourism economy. „What the TSA shows is that even if the tourist sector in Iceland is largely dependent on foreign visitors, the domestic market is also significant and increasing moderately”, says Cristi and continues: ”We should not forget that Icelanders are also travelling in this country, and when travelling abroad they use also Icelandic airlines. All of these also counts into the tourist consumption for Iceland”. Domestic tourism expenditure includes expenditure made by Icelandic residents in Iceland either as part of a domestic trip or part of an outbound trip (i.e. flight tickets abroad via Icelandic airlines).

TSA is an official statistical instrument to measure the economic contribution of tourism based on international standards. The figures presented above are just the first TSA estimates to be produced. Other figures will be delivered from the ITRC in the coming months. It is important to mention that due to changes in methodology these data are not comparable with TSA data released by Statistics Iceland in 2011 and before.

Statistics Iceland’s press release

Statistics Iceland’s page for tourism statistics